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SREE KRISHNA 

THE LORD OF LOVE 

PART I. 



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SREE KRISHNA 



THE LORD OF LOVE 



BY 



Baba Premanand Bharati 




PUBLISHED BY 



The Krishna Samaj 

NEW YORK 






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CLASS cu xXo. No. 

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Copyright 1904 

BY 

BABA PREMANAND BHARATI 



[TOTAL NUMBER OF PAQtS SBOj 



S. L. PARSONS * CO., PRINTERS, NEW YORK 



To 

BRAHMANAND BHARATI 

MY GOOROO 

To Whom 

My Soul Mind and Body 

are 

IRREVOCABLY SOLD 

In Payment of 

THE GRACE OF HIS ILLUMINATION 

WHICH LIGHTED MY PATH 

To 

THE LOTUS FEET 

OF 

KRISHNA MY BELOVED 



PREFACE 

I beg to present this my humble work to the 
English reader. It is the history of the Uni- 
verse from its birth to its dissolution. I have 
explained the science of creation, its making 
and its mechanism. In doing so I have drawn 
my information from the recorded facts in 
the Sacred Books of the Root-Race of man- 
kind. Some facts and explanations are herein 
furnished for the first time in any modern 
language. This book embodies true Hinduism. 
If read with an open mind, it will serve the 
reader with illumination and solve many a 
riddle of life, untie many a tangle of thought. 
I have spoken throughout from out of the 
depths of the ages. I have thought absolutely 
in Sanscrit and expressed myself in English, 
an imperfect medium for expressing Sanscrit, 
ideas. My object has been to impress my 
readers with the substance of Hindoo thought 
in all its purity. This has not been done before 
even by Hindoo writers on Hindoo religion 



PREFACE. 

and philosophy. They have cared to humor 
the Western readers, by putting in a mixture 
of Western thought and dressing it up in West- 
ern ways of expression. I have not done so, 
because I know that in reading an Eastern 
book the Western mind wants purely Eastern 
thought in pure Eastern dress. 

This will afford all soul-hungry readers with 
enough healthy food and drink. The first 
part of the book contains the food, the Kernel 
of the Soul-cocoanut ; the second part, its 
Sweet Milk. The third part is from Krishna 
Himself. It is the purest Nectar of Spiritual 
Love. Let the reader open his heart to it, and 
I am sure it will fill it with ecstasy. The soul- 
ful reader will thrill with the joyous vibrations 
of every sentence of the " Messages and Rev- 
elations/' 

The belief that our life begins with the birth 
of this physical body and ends with its death 
is the worst superstition, because it is the 
worst obstacle in the way of our soul's un- 
foldment. This life has sprung from Eternity ; 
it draws its breath in Eternity, and is finally 

ii 



PREFACE. 

absorbed by Eternity which is Absolute Love. 
To know that we, human beings, were never 
blessed with greater powers than we possess 
in this age is the saddest of mistakes. To be- 
lieve that we were once as great and powerful 
as divine beings and that we can recover that 
greatness and those powers, is to believe in the 
actual potentialities of the human mind. This 
life can be made one long ecstatic song; this 
life can, if we take the trouble to make it, be 
made the source of joy to ourselves as well as 
to all around us forever and ever ; it can even 
attain to the Essence of Godhood, from which it 
has sprung, by developing uninterrupted God- 
Consciousness. 

We all are idolators. Some of us worship 
idols of Divinity, others worship iclols of 
Matter. Some of us worship the Spirit 
through suggestive signs and symbols, others 
worship Flesh, mere forms of animated flesh. 
Since our mind wants idols for worship, just 
as our body wants food for sustenance, let us 
all worship idols of Spirit in Form. Through 
its concrete Form-Centre we can enter into 



in 






PREFACE. 

the Abstract Spirit of Love — Love which is 
our one object and goal in life. This Love 
is Krishna and the universe and we, its parts, 
are the materialized manifestation of that Love. 

PREMANAND BHARATI. 

The Alpine, 55 West 33d Street, 
New York, July 7, 1904. 



TV 



CONTENTS OF PART I. 

Introductory. page. 

Life's Source and Search 5 

God is Formless and Has a Form 17 

Section I. The Concrete and Abstract God 30 

Section II. The Science of Creation 41 

Section III. The Steps of Creation 50 

Section IV. The Cyclic Motion of Changes. ... 56 

Section V. The Golden Age 64 

Section VI. The Silver Age 91 

Section VII. The Caste System 104 

Section VIII. The Four Stages of Life 123 

Section IX. The Copper Age 132 

Section X. The Iron Age ' 145 

Section XL Manwantara or the Deluge 170 

Section XII. The Kalpa Cycle 180 

Section XIII. Natural Dissolution 194 

Section XIV. Modern Scientific Testimony.... 199 

Section XV. Science Upholds Shastras 209 

Section XVI. Physical and Astral Bodies 219 

Section XVII. Karma 223 

Section XVIII. Reincarnation 234 

Section XIX. How to Destroy Karma 250 

Section XX. The Atom's Return Journey 256 

Section XXI. Yoga 272 

Section XXII. Bhakti Yoga 272 

Section XXIII. Vaishnav, Christian of Christians 285 

Section XXIV. Krishna Leela 295 



INTRODUCTORY. 



LIFE'S SOURCE AND SEARCH. 

Beloved! I wish to call you "my beloved," 
whoever you are who have taken up this 
my love-message to read, for you are the 
beloved of my Beloved — Krishna. I may not 
know you, nor you me, and yet we have been 
together times without number; yet we have 
loved each other w T ith the truest, the purest, 
the sweetest love again and again, when we 
lived in Love, when we had our being in the 
Ocean of Love, when we were aw r ake in the 
consciousness of the One Essence which ever 
pervades us all — Love. 

Beloved! That state, that iealm, in which 
we lived and knew and loved each other, we 
have forgotten, and this forgetfulness is the 
cause of our separateness, our non-recogni- 
tion, our want of sympathy, our troubles and 
quarrels. Going into the depth of Silence — 
Silence within and without us — I have dis- 



SREE KRISHNA. 

covered its Secret which is also the Secret 
of our forgotten Love-Existence. And this 
my message to you is the revelation of that 
mystery which our strayed soul is trying to 
solve through every effort of the life we are 
living now. 

Beloved ! I humbly lay before you this mes- 
sage to read — to help you to recognize your 
true self, to help you to find your true goal in 
this life's race. This message is a magic mir- 
ror in which, maybe, you will catch the reflec- 
tion of your soul's All-Beautiful Image. 

You are now engaged, my beloved, in read- 
ing this message with the same object for 
which every one of us is just now engaged in 
doing various things. It is life's one common 
object for us all — Pleasure. That is the one 
all-absorbing quest of humanity, nay, of all 
living creatures, of all creation. We are ever 
striving, all of us, every minute, to find that 
one blessing which ever eludes our grasp, ever 
misses our ken, ever deludes us like the will-o'- 
the-wisp — the one object of our desire, of 
predominant, spontaneous, practical, natural 
interest — Unmixed, Unbroken Happiness. 
6 



INTRODUCTORY. 

Not only is this quest for happiness ever 
present within mankind, but also in lower ani- 
mals, and even in every phase of Nature, more 
or less pronounced or discernible. Every mani- 
festation of Nature, man or beast, bird or tree 
or plant, is ever endeavoring to adjust a state 
of internal disorder and disturbance — I mean 
ever endeavoring to bring about a sense 
or instinct of that harmonious equilibrium, 
which we call Full Satisfaction, Complete 
Contentment, Absolute Happiness. 

Now the question may be asked: Why is 
this universal quest for happiness? How is 
it that every man or woman or child is every 
minute seeking some sort of happiness or 
other? The Hindoo sages have answered this 
question to the satisfaction of all intelligent 
human beings. Why is this eternal search for 
happiness ? 

That answer is : Because the whole uni- 
verse, of which we are parts, has come out of 
that Eternal Abode of Happiness, called Bliss, 
where it had dwelt before creation, like a tree 
in a seed, and the memory of which dwells 
still in the inner consciousness of all created 
7 



SREE KRISHNA. 

beings, though it has dropped out of their 
outer consciousness. 

That abode of happiness is called the Abode 
of Absolute Love ; the Hindoo calls it Krishna. 
The word Krishna, in Sanscrit, comes from 
the root "karsha" — to draw. Krishna means 
that which draws us to Itself ; and what in the 
world draws us all more powerfully than 
Love? It is the "gravitation" of the modern 
scientist. It is the one source and substance 
of all magnetism, of all attraction; and when 
that love is absolutely pure, its power to draw 
is absolute, too. 

In seeking even material pleasure or happi- 
ness through life we are ever seeking this Ab- 
solute Bliss, only most of us do not know it. 
The man who devotes his heart and soul to 
acquiring wealth is, in fact, but striving to at- 
tain this blissful state. For what does the 
would-be millionaire work to make the million 
but to secure pleasure, the pleasure of good 
eating, good drinking, good living, good en- 
joyment — to be happy? He makes the mil- 
lion; but the happiness which he secures, by 
securing the means of pleasure and by enjoy- 

8 



INTRODUCTORY. 

ing the pleasures themselves, is not complete. 
He still feels some void in that happiness, 
something still wanting in those pleasures to 
make him fully happy. He therefore piles up 
more millions, he plunges into newer pleas- 
ures, he leaves no stone unturned to find the 
material objects which will add to his pleas- 
ure ; and when he has secured all these objects 
and enjoyed them, he finds himself exactly at 
the same place where he was before — there is 
something still wanting to make him com- 
pletely happy. Finding no newer objects 
which are likely to add to his happiness, he 
occupies himself by enjoying what he has al- 
ready enjoyed over and over again; that is 
to say, he goes over again the same round of 
pleasures to delude himself into the belief that 
that is the best happiness allowed to mortal 
man. 

But the delusion is temporary and far from 
complete. The longing, the search for some- 
thing still wanting, is present all through that 
delusion — something unknown, but which he 
thinks he might know and recognize, if he 
once found it. But, alas, he does not I 
9 



SREE KRISHNA, 

Poor Man ! He does not know the secret of 
true happiness, the happiness which is com- 
plete in itself, which never ends, which, once 
secured, never falls short or vanishes, which 
flows from within the heart through all the 
channels of the body, out through the pores 
of it in a continual stream of ecstasy. He does 
not know that this thing, this unending hap- 
piness, is not to be found in material objects; 
that it cannot be secured by the means or by 
the instincts of the physical senses, which 
cognize only material objects. 

And why? Why is it that material objects 
fail to give us that true and absolute happi- 
ness, fail to satisfy the hunger of the yearn- 
ing human heart for that unknown something 
which it feels somehow must exist, but which 
ever eludes its ken and quest, and which, alas ! 
it does not realize that it once knew, that 
it once owned by right of heritage? 

The answer is simple, and ought to be 
convincing to every thoughtful mind. The 
answer is: Because material objects are 
changeful in their nature and principle; be- 
cause, being nothing but forms of changeful- 
10 



INTRODUCTORY, 

ness, they do not possess this permanent, this 
unchangeable happiness, to give it to those who 
seek to derive it from them. An object whose 
very principle is changefulness can afford noth- 
ing which is not changeful in its nature. All 
the pleasures, therefore, that we derive from 
material objects must necessarily be change- 
ful, which means short-lived, pleasures of short 
duration, broken pleasure, distinguished by the 
Hindoos from unbroken pleasure, which, be- 
cause of its unbrokenness and ecstatic taste, 
ceases to be called pleasure and assumes the 
name of Bliss. 

The question now arises, where is this true 
happiness to be found, if it cannot be found 
in material objects? Some modern scientists 
call this unbroken happiness a delusion and 
a snare of credulous humanity. Modern sci- 
ence has done much, has done wonders in this 
Western world. None but a fool will deny 
the glory of its brilliant achievements. But 
even among those who admire the wonderful 
progress of modern science, if there be one 
who fails to find anything in these products 
of science which is in any way likely to con- 
11 



SREE KRISHNA. 

tribute towards the attainment of contentment 
by the human mind, that person need not nec- 
essarily be a fool. Modern science has excited 
our wonder, but has failed to make us either 
contented or happy — contentment and happi- 
ness, which are our eternal quest, the one ob- 
ject of our life, the one goal to which all cre- 
ation is running in a blindfolded race. It 
should rather be claimed for modern science 
that it has made its followers outward-look- 
ing. It has produced conveniences and com- 
forts of life, which have made all people 
hanker for them; and many, failing to secure 
them, make themselves discontented and 
unhappy. Modern science, in a word, has 
served only to put obstacles in the way of our 
attempt to realize that one object of our exist- 
ence — contentment, which affords true happi- 
ness. 

This leads me to repeat what I have just 
said, that no true or all-satisfying permanent 
happiness can be found in material objects, 
and hence the failure of material scientists to 
make humanity either contented or happy. 

Where is, then, this happiness to be found? 
12 



INTRODUCTORY. 

The answer is : Within ourselves. It can- 
not be found in anything outside of ourselves. 
This continual stream of happiness is flowing 
at all times from our heart of hearts all 
through our body, but we cannot perceive it, 
or feel it, because our mind has been covered 
by the clouds formed out of our hankerings 
for material objects. Our desire for material 
pleasures is the only veil that shrouds this 
fountain of true happiness from our mental 
vision. 

But if our desires for material enjoyments 
be carefully and intelligently analyzed, we can 
arrive at only one conclusion, and that is 
that in hankering for material pleasures we are 
in fact practically hunting for that happiness 
which, once attained, is ever full, ever satisfy- 
ing; which, once enjoyed, lays all hankerings 
for material enjoyments forever at rest. The 
fact of our material possessions and enjoy- 
ments ever leaving within us a wish, more or 
less pronounced, for something still more en- 
joyable, still more pleasurable, is the most in- 
directly direct proof that we are in quest of 
something which material objects cannot sup- 

13 



SREE KRISHNA. 

ply ; and the fact of this quest being present in 
all human souls, in all their thoughts and 
actions at all times forces us to the irresistible 
conclusion that we once knew or had a taste 
of the thing we all are eternally searching 
for; and that, having lost it, we are ever 
endeavoring to regain it, its absence having 
rendered us as unhappy and restless as a fish 
out of its element. 

This lost object, this once enjoyed state of 
the human soul, now absent but ever longed 
for, is — Krishna. 

It is Krishna— Perfect State of Love or 
Bliss — that is ever drawing us to Itself. This 
Krishna was once our home, when this crea- 
tion, of which we form but atoms, slept for 
aeons unnumbered in the bosom of Krishna, 
forming but a part of His will. When those 
unnumbered aeons were numbered, after these 
atoms of creation had slept for enough time 
to rest themselves in that bosom of Absolute 
Bliss, they were thrust out of that realm into 
space, to form a universe. 

They first manifested themselves as Uni- 
versal Consciousness, which, wanting to be 

14 



INTRODUCTORY, 

conscious of something, developed into Ego, 
and Ego developed into the Mind, as no Ego 
is possible without the faculty of thought, which 
is the Mind's function. And as thoughts are 
not possible without objects to think upon, the 
five fine objects, namely : Sound, Touch, Form, 
Taste and Smell, came into existence, along 
with their gross counterparts and com- 
pounds, I mean the five elements, namely, 
Ether, Air, Fire, Water and Earth; while 
the Mind's channels of communication with 
these fine and gross forms of matter were de- 
veloped simultaneously, namely, the five Cog- 
nizing Senses: Power of Seeing, (eye), Power 
of Hearing (ear), Power of Smelling (nose), 
Power of Tasting (tongue), Power of Feeling 
(skin), with the five Working Senses, namely, 
Power of Speaking (vocal organs), Power of 
Holding (hands), Power of Moving (feet), 
Power of Excreting and Power of Generating. 
Thus from Krishna to earth, Krishna's Will 
took twenty-four steps to assume the form 
of the universe, and myriad steps more to 
divide the universe into earth, heaven, stars, 
planets, sun and moon, man and beast and 

15 



SREE KRISHNA, 

bird; trees and shrubs and grass; mountains 
and rivers, which go to make it up. 

But every particle of this cosmos is con- 
scious, directly or indirectly, in every point, of 
the home that it has left, the absolute state of 
Bliss it once has soaked in, the incomparable 
nectar which it has once tasted. Yes, that 
memory endures; the memory of that Love 
Absolute is the cause of all discontent, of all 
dissatisfaction, of all strife and effort, of all 
ambition and achievement. It is the cause as 
well of every philosophy and transcendental 
thought, of moral and spiritual uplifting, and 
of developing the human into the Divine. 

From Krishna have we all come and Krish- 
naward are we all tending. And all our ac- 
tions, good, bad or indifferent, are but the 
feeble steps with which we are all endeavor- 
ing to cover the journey back to Krishna — our 
Home, Sweet Home! — our ever-loved Home, 
from which we have come away as sorry tru- 
ants and to which the needle of our soul ever 
trembles, pointing to us the forgotten path, 
by which we fled from and by which we are 
again to return to that Home — Sree Krishna ! 



INTRODUCTORY. 

GOD IS FORMLESS AND HAS A FORM. 

Thus Krishna is the object we are all seek- 
ing through every wish and every act; every 
moment of our existence we are seeking Krish- 
na. He is the interest which makes life inter- 
esting, the one interest which makes life worth 
living. He is the element of sweetness in the 
grossest pleasure. He is the highest beatitude 
which the purest souls attain to. The lover 
of good eating cannot keep on eating forever 
to sustain the pleasure that good eating pro- 
duces ; if he did, he would die. The sensation 
of eating endures as long as the food is on the 
palate; but the mind alone is the enjoyer of 
that sensation. The mind alone, likewise, en-< 
joys the pleasure of intoxication, which the 
dryest and highest priced champagne can af- 
ford. A little while and the pleasure of the 
daintiest of food and the most delicious of 
drinks is over, giving place to the pain of its 
loss and the restlessness in the search again 
for such pleasure! 

The man who has solved the mystery of true 
pleasure that needs no re-eating and re-drink- 
17 



SREE KRISHNA. 

ing to keep itself up, does not seek to find it 
in any food, or in any drink, or in any form or 
means of material enjoyments, knowing that 
it is the mind alone, affected by material ob- 
jects, that cognizes pleasure or pain. The 
pleasure or pain which the mind feels on being 
brought into contact with the thought or influ- 
ence of material objects is derived from those 
objects themselves; and so long as the mind is 
habituated to draw pleasure from such objects 
it cannot but come in for some sorrow, too, for 
objective pleasure is short-lived, and its cessa- 
tion is sorrow in the least pronounced sense. 

But we all want only pleasure or happiness ; 
we hate pain or sorrow in any shape. If that 
is true, and nobody can say it is not, then what 
we practically want is eternal, unending 
pleasure; but we seek to find it in objects 
whose very constituents partake of changeful 
materials born more of pain than of pleasure. 

If we can make the mind dwell upon some 
object which is eternally lovely and lovable, 
nay, even if we can imagine such an object, 
mentally create such an ideal object, and con- 
centrate our mind exclusively upon it, then we 

18 



INTRODUCTORY. 

can have a taste of that unending happiness 
which we all are seeking in vain to find in 
material objects. Then, dwelling on this 
Changeless Idea, the restless mind becomes 
fixed and calm; and calmness of mind being 
happiness, the mind is thus made happy by 
itself. Then it has known that happiness lies 
within itself, and within means independent of 
any concern with outside objects ; then it finds 
that the coarsest meal gives as much pleasure 
as the daintiest of dinners, and that Adam's 
Ale is a more delicious drink than the highest- 
priced champagne. It has then learned to drink 
the champagne of the soul, the least taste of 
which makes one think the taste of the most 
delicious wine and food to be all tasteless. 

But from such transcendental nonsense, as 
the materialist would call it, let us come down 
for awhile to analyze matter, the God of the 
materialist. Let us for awhile examine the 
making and the mechanism of the universe, 
and try to trace in the grossest matter the ex- 
istence of this Perfect Love or Happiness. 

I have already told you of the making of 
the universe, that it is made up of twenty-four 
19 



SREE KRISHNA. 

principles; namely, Love, Universal Con- 
sciousness, Ego, Mind, the Ten Senses, the 
Five Objects and the Five Elements. I have 
also told you very briefly the process of crea- 
tion from Love to earth. I need now tell you 
that every succeeding principle, as it is devel- 
oped, contains the preceding principle or 
principles. A grain of earth therefore is as 
good as the whole universe in regard to its 
composition. There is but this difference be- 
tween the universe and an atom of it, that in 
the universe all the passages of its twenty-four 
principles are fully opened, while in the atom 
all these passages are closed. But motion is 
the principal law of creation, of all creation, as 
every particle of it is ever moving in the form 
of change. The atom of earth, which is the 
smallest form of moving manifestation of Love 
through finer and grosser matter, moves back- 
ward now through grosser and then through 
finer forms of love-manifestations into the 
Ocean of Love again, from which it had orig- 
inally started. 

The process of this backward motion of ma- 
terial atom is the opening of the passages 
20 



INTRODUCTORY. 

of its composing principles through repeated 
reincarnations. To develop from a grain of 
earth into a blade of grass is the first step, 
in which only one passage, that of Feeling, 
is opened. The blade of grass draws by 
the opening of this passage juice from the 
earth for its sustenance. Upward through 
myriad forms of life — shrubs, plants, vege- 
tables, trees, lower animals, etc. — that atom 
travels, to develop into the first savage man, 
in whom the principle called Mind is for the 
first time opened, and along with it are opened 
the passages of Ego and Intelligence (called 
Intellect in individual souls) ; for all these 
three principles are close co-workers. 

The most important stage of evolution is 
man himself, for in man alone are the pas- 
sages of all these twenty-four principles more 
or less open. And hence it is that man is 
called the miniature universe. From savage 
man to civilized man, from civilized man to 
religious man, from religious man to spiritual 
man, from spiritual man to perfect, all love- 
ful man, the process involves again innumer- 
able incarnations. It is the perfect, all-loveful 
21 



SREE KRISHNA. 

man, that reaches the original starting point 
and merges in the Ocean of Love called 
Krishna. 

I am now about to put before you a proposi- 
tion which at first sight may perhaps shock 
you ; but I assure you that, if you can manage 
to get over the first shock, by the aid of an 
open mind and calm consideration, you may 
find that proposition to contain the truth, the 
whole truth and nothing but the truth. My 
proposition is this : If this "formful" universe 
— if that word may be allowed — formful in 
every detail, has come out of God, or Krishna, 
or Love, can it be possible that that Source 
of the universe is perfectly formless? If 
formless, whence have these form-manifesta- 
tions of that formless Deity come? How can 
forms come out of anything void of all forms ? 
That is a hard nut to crack for Western the- 
ologians ; while material scientists do not care 
to call that a nut at all, for they have learned 
to s-ee nothing beyond matter. 

I want you to think over this question with 
a view to draw the right deduction. Mean- 
while, I beg to submit a few suggestions which 
22 



INTRODUCTORY. 

may be of help in drawing these deductions. 
Forms coming out of anything formless is as 
absurd to common sense as it is to higher, 
otherwise called divine, or spiritual science. 
Therefore the producing cause of the universe, 
the first principle, is not formless, but has 
a Form. It has even a form like the form 
of a man, a form most perfect in every feature, 
a form of which the most exquisitely beauti- 
ful and divine human form is but a coarse, 
crude counterpart. Man has been made after 
the image of his Maker, says the Bible. The 
idea has been borrowed from the Hindoo 
scriptures, which in their principles are noth- 
ing if not scientific in propounding principles. 
The Veda says that the Supreme Deity is 
both formless and with form at the same time. 
Just as the sun in its orb is the concrete cen- 
tre of its abstract, infinite self in its mani- 
festation of light and heat, so is the Supreme 
Deity, of which the sun is but a physical re- 
flection, the Concrete Centre of His Abstract 
Infinite Self of His Effulgence, called Love, 
which pervades the whole universe and all 
space, as the basic principle of all Existence. 

23 



SREE KRISHNA. 

As the sun (the orb) taken together with 
its light and heat should be called the sun, 
and not the mere orb should be called 
the sun; so Krishna, the Supreme Deity, 
should be taken together with His Central 
Form and His All-Pervading Effulgence — 
Love — to be called Krishna. It will be as 
wrong to regard the orb only as the sun, that 
is, the orb minus its effulgence and heat, to 
be the sun, as to regard this Form of Krishna 
(tne Centre of Himself) minus the effulgence 
— all-pervading Love — to be Krishna. Thus 
Krishna, like His physical light-reflection, the 
sun, is Infinite, even though He has a finite- 
looking Form-Centre. 

The fear entertained by most people in the 
West, that the form carries with it an idea of 
finiteness, is not true in regard to Krishna's 
Form. Not only is Krishna Infinite in His ef- 
fulgence, but the Image of his Central Form 
dwells in every particle of that effulgence, 
called Love. Besides, nothing in this universe 
is finite. 

I shall, in succeeding pages, try to prove to 
you the fact that the Supreme Being has a con- 

24 



INTRODUCTORY. 

crete-looking Form-Centre, for two reasons. 
One is to support the proposition that no form 
can come out of anything formless, and the 
other is that all forms in creation, from a 
blade of grass to a divine man, are more or 
less imperfect manifestations of the Central 
Form from which they have sprung. From 
the blade of grass upward, the process of evo- 
lution discovers more and more outward re- 
semblance and inward affinity to the Form and 
attributes of the Author of the universe. Hence 
it is true that man is made in the Image of 
his Maker. 

In the upward evolution of the man-form, 
the refinement of mental, moral, intellectual 
and spiritual attributes contributes more and 
more towards the man-form being made a 
more and more perfect image of his Maker, 
both externally and internally. 

Krishna in Form and in Love-Effulgence is 
present as much in a grain of earth, in a blade 
of grass, in a beast, as in man. Only that 
Form is more or less covered in the lower life- 
forms, on account of many of the composing 
principles of their bodies being unopened; 
25 



SREE KRISHNA. 

while in the man, all the principles being 
opened, the man-form looks more like the form 
of God. Some people refuse to believe that 
the Supreme Deity has a form like that of 
man, because God, with a human form would 
be lowered in their estimation. These devout 
people forget that the human form is but an 
imperfect picture of God's form, instead of 
God's form being a copy of the human form. 
So God need not take the trouble of assuming 
an imperfect reflection of His own Perfect 
Form. 

Dear Reader! Some of you may say that 
it is foolishness and temerity on my part to 
try to prove that God has a Form before peo- 
ple who are in the vanguard of civilization, 
and many of whom think that the very idea of 
God is but a diseased fancy of weak humanity. 
Yet, for all that, I do preach a Form-God 
along with a Formless God with all the bold- 
ness my ancient, truly scientific conviction 
commands, because that boldness is backed by 
truth, the only Truth. 

You here in this country are all of you great 
lovers and admirers of science; you want 
26 



INTRODUCTORY. 

everything to be scientific in order to be ac- 
ceptable. The food you eat, the air you 
breathe, the medicine you use, must be scien- 
tifically supplied and applied. But if you want 
science in everything, why do you not 3e- 
mand science in religion? Why is your re- 
ligion so unscientific? Forms coming out of 
a formless God is the most unscientific asser- 
tion imaginable. 

The root of this belief in forms coming out 
of the formless is buried in the conceit which 
the new civilization has developed in its aver- 
age votary. People here do not care to bow in 
reverence to anything that has a form, hence 
is a formless Deity so readily believed in. If 
God had a form, they say, He would be human, 
and therefore not worth worshiping. Nor do 
they believe in making an image of God or 
bowing to it. They will bow to man; they 
will idolize man, but not God. Every man 
here idolizes his lady-love, and every lady 
idolizes her lover, with more or less abject 
worship. They will worship the picture of a 
lover or a lady-love day and night, but they 
will not worship the image of God, even in a 

27 



SREE KRISHNA. 

picture. They will pay homage to a moving 
form of Wealth or Physical Beauty or Sensu- 
ality, but hate to think of, much less worship, 
an Image of God. They are worse idolators 
than the Hindoos whom they affect to hate as 
"heathens." They worship idols of money 
and human flesh; the Hindoos worship idols 
of God. They worship material forms of mere 
matter ; the Hindoos worship Sanctified Forms 
of the Divine Spirit or Its Attributes. Let 
them raise their standards of idol-worship 
first in order to be worthy to talk of the purely 
transcendental idolatry of the Hindoos. 

The Hindoos rarely paint a picture or carve 
an image of a human being ; a human being is 
not worthy of it, except a Saint or a Gooroo 
(spiritual guide) ; but they paint their God 
and make His Image, and worship it with all 
internal and external homage. 

We are all denounced as idolaters; but we 
are idolators to-day, in spite of all the influ- 
ence of civilization and Christian bigotry 
brought to bear upon us, as good idolators to- 
day as we were ten thousand years ago. The 
idols and idolatry of ancient Greece, Rome and 
28 



INTRODUCTORY. 

Egypt have been swept away; but the idols 
of the Hindoo-God still flourish and will flour- 
ish to the end of time, as they flourished time 
out of mind. 

What is the reason? Whence is this extra- 
ordinary vitality of Hindoo idolatry? Be- 
cause it is not idolatry in the sense it is un 
derstood by "civilized" Westerners. We wor- 
ship the images of the attribute-manifestations 
of the ONE God, of the ONE Deity, of the 
ONE Supreme Being, who pervades the uni- 
verse, who originally is with Form and Form- 
less at the same time. We worship Krishna, 
above all, in His Image as He manifested Him- 
self and walked on earth among men 5,000 
years ago ; Krishna, whose miraculous deeds of 
love, power and valor no incarnation, either in 
the West or in the East, ever could enact or 
even imitate, before His time or even after His 
ascension to Heaven, up to to-day. We love 
this Krishna, the Seed and Soul of the Uni- 
verse, the Basic Principle of creation; we be- 
lieve in Him and in the potency of His Name. 

Love Him, dear Reader, because He loves 
you more than anyone you meet here on earth. 

My Krishna bless you all! 
29 



SREE KRISHNA 

THE LORD OF LOVE 



SECTION I. 

THE CONCRETE AND ABSTRACT GOD. 

See you that sun, Beloved Reader, shining 
radiant in the blue space above? Ancients 
worshipped it as a god, and the Hindoos, the 
most ancient of all peoples, worship the sun 
as a god still. With joined hands filled with 
flowers and water and trembling with homage, 
the Hindoos daily pray to this "Outer Eye of 
the Deity," this parent of all light and Nature. 
"O Thou Parent of the Three Worlds ! I medi- 
tate upon thy power divine which directs my 
intelligence!" prays the Brahman morning, 
noon and evening, as he bows in all reverence. 
This sun is the physical expression of the 
Spiritual Sun, Krishna. As the sun (the 
orb) is the concrete centre of its abstract self, 
in its diffused manifestation of light and heat 
which pervades the universe, so this, the 
Spiritual Sun, Krishna, the Source of the sun, 
is the concrete centre of the diffused effulgence 
31 



SREE KRISHNA. 

of His Body which pervades even the sunlight 
and its heat. Krishna has a Form, a Form of 
which the most exquisite human form is but 
a crude counterpart. The effulgence of Krish- 
na's Body is the substance of all space and 
creation. This Effulgence-Krishna, with 
Form-Krishna for its centre, from which it 
radiates — is Love. 

As the physical sun's effulgence embodies 
or is co-existent with heat, so the Spiritual 
Sun's effulgence embodies and is co-existent 
with Intelligence. This co-existent Absolute 
Love and Absolute Intelligence forms the Be- 
ing of this Creation. Krishna is, therefore, 
called the embodiment of Being, Intelligence 
and Bliss, or Life, Truth and Love. Every par- 
ticle of this radiance of Krishna's Form-Body 
is not only instinct with these three attributes 
in one, but has within it the germ of Krishna's 
Form and Power. 

The belief that the First Cause of the uni- 
verse has no form, is based partly on error of 
its conception and upon ignorance of the laws 
of Nature. It is a delusion to think that all 
forms are human, material, and finite, and that 
to acknowledge that this Supreme Being has a 

32 



THE CONCRETE AND ABSTRACT GOD. 

form is to take away from Him His absolute 
divinity, spirituality and infinity. 

That which is not in the seed cannot appear 
in the tree which comes out of it, says an 
aphorism of the Vedanta philosophy. This be- 
ing an undeniable truth, even from a com- 
mon sense standpoint, it may be asked: If 
God is formless, and if that formless, abstract 
God be the source from which the universe 
has come, then how can that creation contain 
any form ? If man's creator is formless, to put 
the question in another way, wherefrom has 
He His form? If God has no form, then He 
can have no idea of form, and having no idea 
of form, how can He then create form, for 
creation is but expansion of Idea. 

Creation has sprung from God's will, says 
the Holy Bible, as also the Veda. These tell 
us — and both the Christians and the Hindoos 
are agreed on this point — that God has a Will. 
What is will? It is but the function or attri- 
bute of the mind. Just as where there is 
no fire there can be no smoke, so where there 
is no mind there can be no will. Once we 
admit that God has a will, we cannot escape 

33 



SREE KRISHNA. 

admitting that He has a mind, the function of 
which — will — He exercised in order to create 
the universe. 

Now then, it being established that God has 
a mind, the question may be asked: Is that 
mind encased in a body? If so, what sort of 
a body is it ? Is it physical ; that is to say, is 
it formed of the same material of which the 
human body is made ? Or is it a body made of 
abstract spirit ? This is not possible, for mind 
is defined by the Vedas to be that principle 
within us which has the power of willing and 
non-willing. Scientists and modern philoso- 
phers define mind with practically the same 
purport. This vibration of the mind, willing 
and non-willing, is brought about or induced 
by the reflections cast upon if by external or 
internal objects, through its channels of com- 
munication, the five cognizing senses, the phys- 
ical counterparts of which are the Eye, the 
Ear, the Nose, the Palate and the Skin, which 
cognize respectively Form, Sound, Smell, 
Taste and Touch, under which five heads the 
Vedas have classified all forms of matter or 
objects. A mind without these five channels 

34 



THE CONCRETE AND ABSTRACT GOD. 

cannot exist, for, having no channels, it re- 
ceives no impressions of objects, and has there- 
fore no chance of either willing or non-willing, 
which is its attribute and its only substance 
and composition. 

Once we acknowledge that God has a 
mind, we cannot help acknowledging these 
channels of that mind, the five senses. God 
has therefore not only a mind, but the Power 
of Seeing (eye), the Power of Hearing (ear), 
the Power of Smelling (nose), the Power of 
Tasting (palate), and the Power of Feeling 
(skin). The mind has also five other powers 
called its working senses; vi2,, the Power of 
Speaking, the Power of Holding, the Power of 
Moving, the Power of Excreting and the 
Power of Generating, otherwise called the 
vocal organs, the hands, the feet, the excre- 
tory organ and the generating organ. Thus 
God, possessing a mind, is bound to possess 
the ten senses, without which the mind cannot 
act, and inaction of the mind is its destruction 
or non-existence. God, having a mind, has 
to have an Ego, too, for mind is but a product 
or channel of the Ego, which means I-ness or 

35 



SREE KRISHNA. 

Self-Consciousness. So that God has all the 
principles of which man is formed, once it 
is admitted that God has a mind. And there 
is no sane man who can deny to God the pos- 
session of a mind of which the universe is 
the design and creation of which man is but 
a tiny part. 

The Christian Bible says that God has made 
man in His own image, which means that man 
is the reflection, more or less imperfect, of 
God. Is it then possible that what is not in 
the original is present in the reflection ? If the 
human soul, according to this scriptural say- 
ing, is a reflection (image) of the Deity, has 
not that Deity a mind and body, as Its reflec- 
tion, the human soul, has? 

The answer is : It has, only the Divine 
Mind, being' consummately pure in its state and 
perfect in its working, is absolutely powerful 
to create, preserve and destroy; and the Body 
in which the Divine Mind is encased is com- 
posed of a substance not of any material 
make. 

But what does this Body of God look like? 
Is it like a human body? The answer is : Yes, 

36 



THE CONCRETE AND ABSTRACT GOD. 

but of a perfection of shape, symmetry and 
beauty, with which no human body can be 
compared; it is the Original Body, of which 
the human body is a poor imitation. 

The question will be asked : Has God then 
as good a finite body as any of us? The an- 
swer is: NO, in capital letters. God's Body 
is no more finite than the human body is. 
There is nothing in Nature which is finite, not 
even a blade of grass, or the tiniest speck of 
earth. 

All is infinite — all that you see around you, 
or perceive within you. There is no such 
word as finite in the dictionary of Nature, in 
the lexicon of Creation. All, all that looks 
ever so small and circumscribed to the fleshly 
eye of ignorance, is vast and endless to the 
eye of spiritual wisdom. All that to the phys- 
ical sight is limited in shape and life is be- 
fore the vision of the soulful student of Cre- 
ation's mysterious laws limitless beyond grasp. 

Take a grain of earth, and try to trace its 
origin by the light of the discoveries made 
by sages who probed into the inmost depths 
of Nature with the needle of pure spiritual 

37 



SREE KRISHNA. 

concentration, and you will find that that grain 
of earth has sprung from Water, Water from 
Fire, Fire from Air, Air from Ether, and 
Ether from Sound, Sound from Mind in its 
effort to cognize outside of it objects pro- 
jecting from within itself, Mind from Ego, 
Ego from Consciousness, and Consciousness 
from the Infinite Love-ocean, the basic princi- 
ple of Creation. 

Can you call this grain of earth finite by any 
means or chance, especially when you come to 
know the mysterious laws by which that grain 
of earth develops into a blade of grass, and 
then, through myriads of reincarnations of dif- 
ferent life-forms, goes back and merges into 
the Ocean of Love, from which it had origi- 
nally sprung? 

From Love to earth and from earth to Love, 
thus is made up the circle of creation, and 
every point in its circumference is but a mov- 
ing phase of the Infinite in manifestation. 

Man being but a stage in the upward evo- 
lution of the atom or a particle of earth, and 
his soul being a part of the Universal Soul, — 
a wavelet of the Love-Ocean, — he is as im- 

38 



THE CONCRETE AND ABSTRACT GOD, 

mense in every way as the universe itself, as 
infinite as the Essense of Infinity. His form 
is but the centre of his abstract Self, called 
Soul. This form is concrete-looking, but it 
is so only to the circumscribed vision of the 
fleshly eye of ignorance. 

The body of the Supreme Deity, Krishna's 
Body, is concrete-looking like man's, but in- 
finite in the expansion of its Radiance or Real 
Self, just as, to repeat the simile, the orb of 
the sun is the concrete-looking centre of its ab- 
stract Self in the manifestation of its light and 
heat. The orb, its radiance and its heat must 
altogether be called the sun, and not the orb 
alone. Krishna, the spiritual Soul of the sun 
as well as of the Universe, has likewise a Form- 
centre, from which radiates to limitless In- 
finity His effulgence called Absolute Love, 
which pervades all creation and space. 

This body of Krishna, the Parent Cause of 
the universe, is made up of concentrated Ab- 
solute Love, and is the Home of the Very Fin- 
est Ideas (potencies) of the sense-principles 
and the Ego, Mind and Intellect, which form 
the main factors of Creation. 

39 



SREE KRISHNA. 

The Beauty of the Body of Krishna changes, 
like the shifting* colors in a kaleidoscope, into 
more and more soul-entrancing loveliness at 
every second, for it reflects the concentrated 
Beauty and Sweetness of the whole universe, 
charms warring with charms for supremacy — 
bubbling foam and froth of the Sweetness of 
the Nectar of Love. 



40 



SECTION II. 

THE SCIENCE OF CREATION. 

It is an intelligent conclusion to draw that 
the imperfect form-creations of the Creator 
reach a perfect stage, or centre, towards which 
all imperfections converge in order to reach 
perfection. That centre does exist, that stage 
is the stage by the standard of which all im- 
perfections of things and phases in Nature are 
known and judged. That centre is the Su- 
preme God Himself — Krishna. 

Krishna, both Concrete and Abstract, has 
three main spiritual attributes: Love, Intelli- 
gence and Life. Love is the first attribute 
and the cause of the two others. As the sun 
(the orb) and its effulgence, to once more re- 
peat the analogy, are one and the same thing, 
as the flame and its light are one and the same 
thing, as without the sun there can be no sun- 
shine, as without the flame there can be no 
light; in other words, as light is inseparable 
from both the sun and the flame, so Krishna, 
41 



SREE KRISHNA. 

though He has a form as finite-looking as 
a human form, is not only infinite in His All- 
pervading Radiance, but that Radiance is in- 
separable from his finite-looking Form-Centre. 
As sunshine, again, is inseparable from heat, 
so the effulgence of Krishna's Central Self is 
inseparable from Intelligence. This Universal 
All-pervading Intelligence, again, is insepara- 
ble from Existence or Being, otherwise called 
Life. These three Absolute Spiritual Attri- 
butes form Krishna's body, both Concrete and 
Abstract. 

Thus both the Concrete and the Abstract 
Krishna are the embodiment of Bliss, In- 
telligence and Being, which are co-existent and 
inter-penetrating. Before Creation, then, there 
was nothing but this Krishna — the three Abso- 
lute Spiritual Attributes in one substance, so 
to speak; for Krishna or Para-Brahm cannot 
be called substance, and yet there is no word 
to indicate it. As mosses formed out of water 
float on the surface of that water, soaking in 
it, so does Creation, springing out of this Bliss, 
Intelligence and Being (the All-pervading Ab- 
stract Self of Krishna), float, soaking in it. 
42 



THE SCIENCE OF CREATION. 

Let us try to understand the mystery of the 
birth of this ever-changeful, material Creation 
from its eternally Unchangeable Parent, the 
Concrete and Infinite Krishna. I have already 
said how every atom of this Creation is com- 
posed of all the twenty-four principles, and 
how in its backward motion to return to the 
First or Primal Principle — that atom opens 
one by one the passages of these principles ; 
and how, when it develops into man-stage after 
passing through innumerable life-forms in the 
course of its evolution, it opens the passages of 
all the principles more or less. It is the open- 
ing of these passages of all of its composing 
principles, in the man-stage of the atom, that 
makes it fit to be called a miniature universe; 
for through these openings it communicates 
more or less freely with the all-pervading prin- 
ciples of the universe. The more developed 
this man-stage becomes (that is to say, the 
clearer the openings of these passages), the 
more correct an index it is of the inner laws 
and workings of the great universe. 

Because man has the whole universe within 
himself just as an acorn has the whole oak 
43 



SREE KRISHNA. 

tree in potency dwelling within it, therefore 
he can, by diving deep within himself, find out 
the mysteries of the producing Source, Being 
and Processes of working of the universe. 

If we think on the process of the development 
of a tree from a seed, we will find that process 
as marvelous as the most marvelous phenom- 
ena of nature. Indeed, this process of the 
birth of a tree out of a seed is the process, in 
miniature, of the birth of the universe out of 
Krishna-Love. This process of Creation is be- 
ing repeated every moment throughout Crea- 
tion itself. The laws of production and de- 
struction, formation and disintegration are the 
same in scientific exactitude as those which 
produce and form, and destroy and disinte- 
grate the universe. The operation of these 
laws is going on as much in the inner as in 
this outer world of ours — as constantly on the 
mental plane as on the physical. The law 
which brings forth a tree out of a seed is ex- 
actly the same as that which, in a finer mani- 
festation, operates through the birth of a 
thought in our mind. The rooting, the shoot- 
ing, the growing, the flowering and the fruit- 

44 



THE SCIENCE OF CREATION, 

ing of a tree is but a gross reproduction of the 
process by which a thought awakes, develops 
and takes shape and action within us. The 
stages of a thought's birth can be clearly per- 
ceived when the mind is calm ; at first there is 
an Unknown Feeling, then an Indefinite Vi- 
bration, which develops into Abstract Idea. 
Idea develops into Thought, and Thought be- 
comes action. 

Out of Krishna (Love) Creation springs 
into existence like a thought. Thought exists 
in our mind like a seed, in the shape of previ- 
ous impressions of objects and ideas; so the 
seed of creation lies in the bosom of Krishna, 
in the shape of impressions of ideas of previ- 
ous Creations. This seed or germ is made up 
of three attributes, called Sattwa (Illumina- 
tion), Raja (Activity or Motion), and Tama 
(Obscuration or Darkness). So long as these 
three attributes, forming the essence of the 
germ, are in equilibrium, that is to say, are of 
equal degree or force or intensity, Creation 
remains in the germ-state in the bosom of its 
First Cause (Krishna). But the moment there 
is the least tendency of any of these attri- 

45 



SREE KRISHNA. 

butes of this germ-essence to fall out of equi- 
librium with the other two, that is to say, when 
one becomes more powerful than the others, 
then they start out of the Central Self — Krish- 
na, encased in another form, almost like unto 
the Krishna-Form, a state which is analogous 
to the Unknown-Feeling state in the develop- 
ment of human thought. 

This state is called Vasudeva, which again 
has a form-centre of its abstract self-radiance, 
pervading all space. It is the least pronounced 
state or stage of differentiation induced by the 
tendency of loss of equilibrium in the even 
forces of the three Cardinal Attributes (Gu- 
nas), illumination, motion and obscuration. 
The second stage, called Sankarsana, analo- 
gous to the Indefinite-Vibration stage of the 
development of thought, has again a form- 
centre of its all-pervading abstract self-radi- 
ance. This Sankarsana is the Unconscious 
Cause of Creation. The third stage, called 
Pradyumna, analogous to the Abstract-Idea 
stage of thought, has likewise a form-centre 
of its all-pervading abstract Self-radiance. 
This is the Semi-Conscious Cause of Creation ; 
46 



THE SCIENCE OF CREATION. 

and from this develops the fourth stage, called 
Aniruddha, which is analogous to the full- 
developed Thought-stage and is the Full Con- 
scious Cause of Creation. This Aniruddha is 
called Vishnoo or Narayan, from nar (water), 
and ayan (bed), because he floats on his back 
on the water of Love-life, while out of his 
navel springs a gigantic lotus — a figurative 
expression, meaning the Universe in bud — in 
which is encased the sleeping Brahma, the 
operating Creator, with the germ of Creation 
dwelling within his mind and about to shoot 
forth. 

In Aniruddha the real stage of inequi- 
librium of the Attributes (Gunas) develops, 
and in Brahma it assumes full development. 
With the opening of the petals of the Mystic 
Love-lotus, Brahma awakes from his sleep 
(deep trance state), and, unable for a moment 
to understand the meaning of the Lotus-bed 
or the Water of Life around (just as a man 
suddenly roused out of sleep is dazed and 
forgets to think and therefore feels stupid for 
the moment), he goes down through the hol- 
low of the Lotus-stalk in order to find out 
47 



SREE KRISHNA. 

the bottom of the Lotus. He goes down, down, 
down, and at last finds its depths unending, 
bottomless. He therefore comes up to the 
surface again and sits down mystified, when 
he suddenly hears a voice from the water, as 
it were, saying: "Tapa, tapa, tapa!" which 
'means, "Meditate, meditate, meditate!" With 
the sound of that word the meaning becomes 
apparent to Brahma. It means: "Why art 
thou looking' outward ? Look inward and thou 
shalt know." Whereupon his eyes involuntar- 
ily close, and his mind becomes concentrated 
inward. Then he sees before his mental vision 
Aniruddha (Vishnoo) appear and say: 
"O Awakened One! know and remember that 
thou art Brahma, the Creator." At the very 
suggestion he finds out his own self and ex- 
claims: "Oh, yes! I am Brahma." Then 
Vishnoo again says : "Thou hast now to cre- 
ate the universe." 

"Oh, yes !" he exclaims, as the memory 
of his function springs within him, "I am to 
create the universe ; but how ? ,J 

"By meditating upon the former creation. 
As the memory of past creation, which dwells 

48 



THE SCIENCE OF CREATION. 

within thee, shall awake, creation will begin." 
With hearing begins action; and as Brahma 
concentrates his mind upon his former cre- 
ation, its memory in time flashes through him, 
and with the flashing of that memory creation 
manifests itself, in the shape of earth, and sky, 
and trees, and grass, and ocean, and rivers, 
and in time beast, and bird, and man, all com- 
plete. Just as a master painter first designs a 
picture in his mind and reproduces that design 
upon the canvas, even so is the picture of cre- 
ation produced upon the canvas of Love-life. 
Only the painter Brahma paints with the brush 
of his all-pow r erful mind-force, which, the mo- 
ment the design forms in his mind, is material- 
ized into living substance. 



49 



SECTION III. 

THE STEPS OF CREATION. 

The Veda says that the universe is like a 
tree; that is to say, it is a tree, the roots of 
which are embedded in the unmanifested 
First Cause — Krishna. Aniruddha is the 
seed, and Brahma is the first sprout. This 
analogy between the seed and the sprout, 
between Aniruddha (also called Vishnoo and 
Narayan) and Brahma seems so perfect that 
it justifies the conclusion that the process of 
the birth of a plant is only an imitation of the 
process through which the universe springs 
into being'. 

As in the germination of a seed two lobes, 
called cotyledons, which form part of the seed, 
come out prior to the appearance of the stem 
which shoots forth between them, so out of the 
navel of Narayan (Aniruddha) first appear 
two cotyledons, called "Lotus" in the figura- 
tive language of the Veda, and between the 
cotyledons, sprouts forth the stem in the shape 

50 



THE STEPS OF CREATION. 

of Brahma, who is the miniature embodiment 
of the universe. 

Before Brahma was born, Narayan created 
Universal Consciousness, which was but the 
manifestation of his own Consciousness (called 
Mahat, which means Immeasureable). Out of 
Consciousness sprang Ego (Ahankara). Out 
of Ego sprang Mind. Out of Mind sprang 
Ether (Akasha). From Ether sprang Water. 
Out of the friction of Ether and Water sprang 
Air. This Air, rising up from the ocean of 
Water with great noise, created, by its fric- 
tion with Water, flames of Fire, illumining all 
space. This Fire became mixed up, by the 
cohesive attribute of Air, with Water and 
Ether, and all four elements became one thick- 
ened, molten mass; and as it rose upward 
the liquid substance which issued from it be- 
came solidified and cooled in process of time 
and formed into Earth. 

Then the Lotus (cotyledons) sprang forth 
from the navel (Sanscrit, Navee, middle) of 
Narayan, and within them Brahma (the 
stem) shot forth. His body was made of the 
Five Elements and Consciousness, Mind and 

51 



SREE KRISHNA. 

Ego. He is also said to be the central form- 
embodiment of Ego (Ahankara). 

Brahma is but the creative form-potency of 
Narayan. When Narayan bade him to medi- 
tate upon his former creation, and told him 
also that the moment that memory of former 
creation would awake within him creation 
would begin, Brahma meditated as he was 
told, and creation began as that memory of the 
past creation flashed within him. 

Thus it will be seen that Narayan (Anirud- 
dha) is the real Creator. He creates at first 
the eight main, abstract and concrete princi- 
ples ; viz., Consciousness, Ego, Mind, and the 
;five elements — Ether, Air, Fire, Water and 
Earth. After the creation of these was cre- 
ated the first concrete form, Brahma, who was 
to create the details of Creation. But even 
these creations were not the product of the 
arbitrary will of Narayan, though their ex- 
pressions w T ere subject to his will or medium- 
ship. The seed-bud of creation dwelt in the 
most mysteriously abstract state within Krish- 
na (Absolute Love), a state so similar to that 

First Principle that it would enter and merge 
52 



THE STEPS OF C RE AT 10 X. 

itself in it. If we cut a seed in halves, we find 
in it not even a suggestion of the tree of which 
it is the seed ; but if we plant it in the soil, the 
rudimentary form of the tree's organism, 
called the germ, asserts itself and creates its 
state of differentiation from its original state 
of homogeneity. So from the tendency of 
the least inequilibrium of the forces of the 
three Cardinal Attributes, Sattwa, Raja, Tama 
(which, having formerly attained equality of 
force, have lost their different individualities 
and have become merged and transformed into 
Pure Sattwa — Illumination) springs the germ- 
state of Creation, and, passing through its 
three stages ; viz., Yasudeva, Sankarsana and 
Pradyumna, reaches its fourth stage, called 
Aniruddha, where, having attained further de- 
velopment, it sprouts forth into Brahma, the 
first visible miniature embodiment of the uni- 
verse. 

As out of the tiny but potent shoot of the 
plant from the seed, the details of the tree, 
viz., trunk, branches, leaves, flowers and fruit, 
spring forth to attain its full-grown state, so 
out of its minute but potent shoot, the details 
53 



SREE KRISHNA. 

of the universe, viz., earth, heaven, sun, moon, 
stars, day, night, mountains, rivers, vegeta- 
tion, spiritual beings, animals, men, etc., spring 
forth to attain its complete form. 

The manifestation of Universal Conscious- 
ness (Mahat) is called the First Step of Crea- 
tion. The birth of Ego ( Ahankara) out of Con- 
sciousness is called the Second Step of Crea- 
tion ; that of Mind from Ego is the Third Step ; 
that of the Five Elements — Ether, Air, Fire, 
Water and Earth from Mind is the Fourth 
Step; that of the Five Attributes of the Ele- 
ments — Sound, Touch, Form, Taste and 
Smell — from the Elements is the Fifth Step; 
that of the Five Cognizing Senses — Seeing, 
Hearing, Smelling, Tasting, Feeling — out of 
these Five Attributes (also called Objects) is 
the Sixth Step; that of the Five Working 
Senses — Speaking, Holding, Moving, Excret- 
ing, Generating — from the Five Elements is 
the Seventh Step ; that of gods and aerial, in- 
visible beings is the Eighth Step ; that of trees 
and plants and shrubs and grass and all other 
vegetation, as also that of the wild animals and 
birds, is the Ninth Step ; that of domestic ani- 
54 



THE STEPS OF CREATION. 

mals and men and women is the Tenth Step. 
These steps or series of Creation have de- 
veloped between long intervals. These are 
called purely Natural Creations through the 
instrumentality of the mind-force of Aniruddha 
(Narayan) and Brahma. 



55 



SECTION IV. 

THE CYCLIC MOTION OF CHANGES. 

The Veda says that when the three Car- 
dinal Attributes, by losing this equipoise of 
force, sprang into being, and leaving the bo- 
som of Krishna (Absolute Love) passed 
through the three stages of their development, 
viz., Vasudeva, Sankarsana and Pradyumna, 
they brought with them a vibration from 
Krishna which found expression in Anirud- 
dha, who exclaimed as he awoke from trance- 
sleep, as it were: "I am One, I wish to be 
the Many." This Divine Will manifested it- 
self into the Universe in the manner described 
in the previous section. 

From the One — Love — the motion of mani- 
festation of Creation has therefore been to- 
wards manifoldness. From One — Love — the 
Principles sprang one by one, and where there 
was only One, there were twenty-four. The 
details of Creation sustained this process of 

manifoldness, and motion gradually increased 
56 



THE CYCLIC MOTION OF CHANGES. 

in speed, manifesting varieties, until now that 
increased motion manifests that Will in mil- 
lions of phases within every second of time. 

This motion of manifestations or changes is 
like the surface of a troubled ocean, where 
heaving billows innumerable, crested with 
foam, cover countless living beings. The cur- 
rent of creative changes is mixed with and fed 
by, and dashes against, the opposite current of 
involutionary changes. The moment the last 
Principle of the Universe — Earth — was cre- 
ated, it had the tendency to go back to the 
First Source of Creation. But, unable to 
force its way back through the channel by 
which it sprang, owing to the rush of creative 
current, it found a circuitous channel by which 
its composing molecules started on their way 
back. As has already been said, and will be 
fully explained in detail in a separate section, 
the molecules have a tendency to open the 
passage of their composing principles, and thus 
to journey back by myriads of reincarnations 
through different and higher and higher life- 
forms to the First Parent Principle. The cur- 
rent of Creation which began with the mani- 
57 



SREE KRISHNA. 

festation of Universal Consciousness is still 
moving on, and will move on in the shape of 
changes until universal disintegration and 
dissolution take place. This current of cre- 
ative changes is mixed up and swelled by the 
opposite current of involution, also in the shape 
of changes. These warring waves of action 
and reaction make up the Cosmos-Ocean. 

Narayan (Aniruddha) is the Seed-Manifes- 
tation (Will) of Krishna (the Supreme De- 
ity) ; the Universe is the Physical Manifesta- 
tion (Materialized Will-Force) of Krishna; 
Time is the Motion Manifestation (Process of 
Working of the Will-Force) of Krishna; and 
the Veda is the Sound-Manifestation (Sound- 
Expression of the Laws of the Will-Force) of 
Krishna. 

It has been shown how Narayan is the Seed- 
Manifestation and how the Universe is the 
materialized Will-Force of Narayan and Brah- 
ma. I will now deal with this Motion-Mani- 
festation — Time. 

"I am One, and I wish to be the Many." 
The Lord was One, and the moment 
He wished to appear to be the Many, 

58 



THE CYCLIC MOTION OF CHANGES. 

then this wonderful creation of vastness 
and variety sprang into existence. From 
the moment of the rise of that Will in 
the Divine Mind down to this moment, that 
Will is undergoing the process of its execu- 
tion. It is a rush from the One towards mani- 
foldness. This process of that manifoldness 
is called Creation, and the rhythm of its mo- 
tion is called Time. The whole Creation is 
nothing but motion of Changes. Time is noth- 
ing but the cognition by our mind of events 
and ideas which are phases of changes in in- 
ternal and external Nature. If we had no 
notion of events and never had an idea within 
ourselves, we would be in Eternity. So long 
as we are conscious of the kaleidoscopic 
changes in us and Nature^ or are conscious of 
their impressions on our mind, we live in Time. 
And the moment all impressions of the mind 
are obliterated and we become, through any 
process, unconscious of human and natural 
events, we lose all consciousness of existence; 
that is to say, we go behind the veil which 
enshrouds these physical phenomena, and we 
enter the realm which is an undisturbed calm 

59 



SREE KRISHNA. 

of Absolute Life, Light and Bliss, the Trinity 
which is Eternity. 

These changes in Nature and human society, 
starting from the beginning" of Creation, move 
in cycles; that is to say, they have a cyclical 
process of motion. In other words, some 
events, natural and human, that occur within a 
certain period of time, are reproduced in their 
principal features in the next period of time 
of the same length. Creation proceeds to- 
wards ever manifold variety at this cyclic 
pace. 

The smallest appreciable Cycle of Nature's 
change-process is the Day. Twenty-four hours, 
called one day, are divided into two parts, 
called day and night. 

One Day is a Cycle embodying natural and 
human events which are reproduced in the 
following day, and so on. So that every day 
and night, in their principal features, are but 
a reproduction of the previous day and night. 
One day, therefore, is the smallest cycle of 
time or events, for events are but the phases 
of natural changes, and time is but the cog- 
nition or consciousness thereof. 
60 



THE CYCLIC MOTION OF CHANGES. 

The next cycle of time or events is the 
Month, in which two events which occur with- 
in twenty-eight lunar days are reproduced in 
the next twenty-eight lunar days. These two 
events are the fourteen days of waxing and 
waning moon, and the bright fortnight is 
the day and the dark fortnight is the night of 
the month. 

The next larger cycle is the Year, in which 
the four seasons mark the principal divisions 
of events and are reproduced in all years in the 
self-same order, their uniform changes of 
weather and Nature bringing forth fruit and 
crops. 

In the same way these events, called Time, 
develop larger cycles in which some event or 
other, or a series of events, are reproduced in 
the next equal length of time. There are 
cycles, for instance, of from 500 to 100,000 
years, the phenomena of which are reproduced 
in the next period of their respective propor- 
tions. But the most pronounced cycle is called 
the Divine Cycle. The Sanscrit word ""Diva" 
is the root of the word "Divine," and "Yuga" 
61 



SREE KRISHNA. 

is the original of which the word "Age" is 
a corrupted form. 

This Divine Age (Daiva-Yuga) is divided 
into four Human Ages, called Satya, Treta, 
Dwapar and Kali. The span of this Divine 
Cycle is composed of 12,000 Divine Years, and 
each Divine Year is equal to 360 human years, 
so that 12,000 years multiplied by 360 gives us 
4,320,000 human years, which is the length of 
a Divine Cycle. The next bigger cycle is 
called the Manwantara, which is made up of 
71 Divine Cycles and is wound up with a 
Deluge, in which the whole world, including 
the highest peaks of the Himalayas, becomes 
immersed in water and remains so for the 
period of 71 Divine Ages. The next larger 
cycle is the Kalpa, which is made up of 14 
Manwantaras, or 1,000 Divine Ages. The next 
cycle and the largest is called Maha-Pralaya, 
in which the whole universe is destroyed to- 
tally, Krishna alone remaining with His Radi- 
ance, filling all space, and 36,000 Kalpas bring 
about this Universal Dissolution. 

Since the beginning of this Kalpa creation, 
six Manwantaras (Deluges) have passed 

62 



THE CYCLIC MOTION OF CHANGES. 

away. Since the last Deluge 2J Divine Cycles 
have rolled away. This is the twenty-eighth 
Divine Cycle of which the first three sections, 
viz., the Golden Age, the Silver Age and the 
Copper Age have passed away. We are just 
now in the early part of the fourth section, the 
Kali or Iron (Dark) Age. 



63 



; 



SECTION V. 

THE GOLDEN AGE. 

Creation begins with the dawn of the Satya 
Yuga, which is also called the Golden Age. 
It is the first part and the longest section of 
the Divine Age. The span of this age is 4,800 
Divine years, which being multiplied by 360 
gives us 1,728,000 human years. It is the most 
spiritual age, because, of the three Cardinal 
Attributes — Sattwa, Raja and Tama — w T hich 
govern, and are the parents of, the composing 
principles of the Universe, the Sattwa is pre- 
dominant in its influence. The Sattwa is that 
attribute which uncovers the true state of 
things without and within us and in Nature, 
hence it may be called the attribute of Illumi- 
nation. Raja is the attribute of Activity 
(motion of change), and Tama is the very re- 
verse attribute of Sattwa. It is that attribute 
within us and Nature which covers the true 
slate of things, hence it may be called the 
64 



THE GOLDEN AGE. 

Obscuring, darkening attribute, the Attribute 
of Darkness. 

The Satya Yuga is called the Golden Age, 
because gold is very abundant in this age of 
utmost spirituality, and gold is the purest and 
most spiritual of all metals. The Illumination 
of predominant Sattwa pervades all Nature 
in this age. Nature, inside and out, is full 
of light, almost transparent witfi light — spirit- 
ual through and through. So is man, her 
best product. Men and women in this age at- 
tain a spiritual depth and height which no 
other age can develop. This spiritual height 
manifests itself In their physical body, while 
the depth of their inward spirituality shows 
itself in their outer life and actions. The 
Golden Age men are twenty-one cubits, or 
thirty-one and a half feet, in height. This 
may strike us, diminutive mortals of this Kali 
Yuga or Iron Age, as absurd or improbable, 
but it need not do so if we remember how long 
ago the last Golden Age was — nearly three 
million years. Moreover, as they are all of 
the same height, they do not think they are 
abnormally tall. 

65 



SREE KRISHNA, 

These men and women, owing to their high 
degree of spirituality, have a perfectly healthy, 
harmonious and beautiful body, for spirituality 
is health, harmony and beauty. They have 
their inner vision fully opened and see more 
through their ensouled mind's eyes than 
through their physical ones. They, therefore, 
see through Nature as through a glass. All 
Nature stands revealed to them to her inmost 
depth wherein they see the One Essence which 
pervades it, the One Spirit of which all things 
within and on the surface of Nature are but 
different phases of its manifestation. And in 
it all they find themselves as part of the 
same phases, living, moving and having their 
being sustained by that One Spirit which is 
both life and light — the One Omnipresent 
Spirit, the one All-Pervading Essence — Love. 

The Golden Age men and women Have no 
garments to cover their entirely bare body, 
nor do they need any. We clothe our bodies 
for two reasons: First, out of our sense of 
delicacy and shame because of our dark 
thoughts born of improper and unnatural (sin- 
ful) actions, and secondly, to protect our body 

66 



THE GOLDEN AGE. 

and health from the attacks of the sun, the 
rain and the changes of weather and climate. 
The Golden Age men have no such reason 
for wearing any clothes. Their perfect spirit- 
uality admits of no dark thought to touch 
their mind, for all is illumination within and 
without them, while their actions are all in 
perfect consonance with the purest laws of 
Nature, in rhythmic motion with the music of 
the Infinite whose song they hear in their 
soul. They may be called moving Vedas — 
walking wisdom and spirituality. The laws 
of the Veda form the mechanism of their mind, 
and it is these Vedic laws that move their limbs 
and prompt their words and actions. Their 
perfect spiritual health is proof against the 
hardships of weather, or rather there is no 
hardship of weather at all. The spirit of the 
Age pervades all Nature, of which the weather 
is a phase. Even Nature's forces are in per- 
fect harmony with one another, for harmony is 
the very keynote of the Age. It is Spring, 
sweetest Spring season, all the year round, dur- 
ing night and during day ; warm enough with- 
out heat, cool enough without being cold, 

67 



SREE KRISHNA, 

breezy enough without being windy — man and 
beast and bird and tree and earth and weather 
all are in harmony. Harmony, harmony, all 
is harmony in this Blessed Age. 

Man and woman have no need at all for sex 
life in the Golden Age. The ecstasy of the 
soul with which their body and being are filled 
renders it impossible for even any thought of 
gross fleshly pleasures to enter their mind. The 
very drawing of breath is to them a pure 
delight which any fleshly or objective pleasure 
of our day cannot dream of approaching. Life 
is lived then in its veriest depth — deep down 
through the mind, deeper down through the 
heart, deepest down in the deptH of the soul. 
And when life is lived in such depth, its sur- 
face is not heeded or cared for. Such a life 
does not require much material nutrition — it is 
nourished by the soul's all-nourishing nectar. 

These men and women eat very little food — 
fruits and roots only, and drink milk and water, 
and these between long intervals. They feel 
very little hunger and that little on far-be- 
tween occasions. We feel hungry because of 
68 



THE GOLDEN AGE. 

our mind contemplating matter. All matter 
is changeful — matter is nothing but collected 
forms of change. Its seeming substance em- 
bodies but motion of change, so that its inmost 
attribute is changefulness. Our mind concen- 
trating on material objects absorbs its attribute 
— changefulness — and is affected by it forth- 
with ; it becomes changeful in its turn, that is, 
it is rendered restless, flitting quickly from one 
object to another. This changefulness of the 
mind is in turn absorbed by our body, which 
suffers from its effects in the shape of loss of 
tissue. And this loss of tissue we Have to sup- 
ply by food and drink and rest and sleep. The 
Golden Age people do not suffer from this 
loss of tissue, because their minds are always 
concentrated on the One Changeless Sub- 
stance, the very reflection of which through 
the changeful forms of matter makes them 
seem steady and substantial. Tfie little wear 
and tear they suffer from, owing to looking 
now and then on the surface of things, causes 
some little need of nutrition, which their occa- 
sional fruit and milk meals supply. 

If they need little food they also need little 
69 



SREE KRISHNA. 

rest. And when they need it, they just lie 
down on the cool carpet of the fragrant grass, 
for they have no other bed than this, because 
in the Golden Age there are no houses what- 
ever on the face of the earth. We build houses 
for the same reasons that we wear clothes, and 
these reasons are absent in the lives of the 
Golden Age people. Their bodies need no pro- 
tection from the weather, nor do they need ex- 
ternal comforts, for they think more of their 
soul than of their body. 

Their home is wherever they live and rest, 
its roof is the high vault of Heaven with its 
azure canopy, Mother Earth the floor, the 
trees its walls; Nature's bowers are their 
boudoirs. All created beings are their family, 
the whole earth their country. And the whole 
earth is one large, beautiful garden, the rich- 
est and most beautiful garden of flowers and 
fruits and songbirds. But more beautiful than 
the garden are the divine men and women who 
sanctify its soil by their walking, at whose ap- 
proach near them the trees worship them with 
showers of flowers and offers of their fruits 
as love-gifts. 

70 



THE GOLDEN AGE. 

This is the long-forgotten, and now mis- 
understood, misinterpreted Earth-Garden of 
the Golden Age called in the Old Testament 
the Garden of Eden. They are all now try- 
ing to locate it, some people in Syria, others 
in Egypt, others eleswhere, ignorant of the 
fact that the Garden of Eden was located upon 
the whole earth. The word "Eden" even is 
the corruption of the Sanscrit word "adhan" 
(Home). The whole earth becomes this 
"Adhan" — the Home of all humanity, of 
mortal souls, the Pleasure-Garden for angels 
on earth to roam about and sport in. This Gar- 
den is the physical manifestation of a higher 
plane, created as the abiding place of mortal 
man in temporary state of spiritual perfection. 
They live a perfectly natural life, feeling them- 
selves as parts of Nature, breathing in unison 
with the breath of sky arid air and tree and 
grass and beast and bird, their souls in tune 
with the souls of gods and angels and In- 
finity Itself. 

Among themselves they feel a Oneness 
which only the most sublimated souls, who 
have realized their atoneness with the all- 
71 



SREE KRISHNA. 

pervading Spirit, can feel. All humanity feels 
as one man, and the only distinction they find 
in this Oneness is in the little difference in the 
formation of the male and female bodies, al- 
though this outward perception of this external 
difference in some details of the physical 
structure does not influence the feeling of 
unity within. Still the difference creates this 
much distinction that the women and men see 
and feel that they are the complements of 
each other and the difference in bodily 
structure expresses this fact. All men feel 
all women are as one and all women feel all 
men are as one, so that, such is the feeling of 
unity which pervades the Golden Age people 
of the earth that all men and women of that 
age can be called as One Man and One Woman. 
This is the state of the human society indicated 
by the story of Adam and Eve. Adam is the 
typical man and Eve the typical woman of the 
Golden Age. Even the names bear testimony 
to this fact. The word Adam is a corruption 
of the Sanscrit word "Adim" which means 
primeval, so that Adam means primeval man. 
The word Eve likewise is a corruption of the 

72 



THE GOLDEN AGE. 

Sanskrit word "Heva" or primeval woman. 
"Heva" means life and love — mother of crea- 
tion. From Mother Nature all things evolve, 
through the mother all things come to life, 
therefore is mother "life." The life of all 
things is motherhood — Life and Love com- 
bined is Mother. Mother ! It is the music of 
the spheres — Life and Love — the grandest 
sound, the music of the Creator, one grand 
chord in the Music of the Universe. Love 
and Life — O Blessed sound, the Lord's Own 
Music — sweet, profound ! 

The spiritual beauty of these primeval peo- 
ple — the Adams and Eves — shows itself in 
their physical forms. Their physical forms, 
symmetry and expressions are ideally beauti- 
ful ; these fashion and shine forth the spirit of 
harmony which dwells within them. It may 
be in truth said of them that they are made in 
the Image of God, and the truth of this state- 
ment grows upon us when we remember that 
they live and feel that they live in the Es- 
sence of Love — live and breathe and have 
their being moved spontaneously by the Spirit 
73 



SREE KRISHNA. 

which is the inmost life and force of all 
Existence. 

This is living on the Tree of Life and eating 
the fruit thereof mentioned metaphorically in 
the Old Testament. Love, Universal Love, 
unmixed, Absolute Love is the only Life. 
When we lose sight of this Ideal, this sub- 
stance of life, we fall. So long: as our minds 
are filled from within with this Love, this 
Radiance of God, and we think, move and 
act by its influence and promptings, so long 
do we really live the Life which is our real 
heritage from God. The Golden Age people 
live this life moved by the Spirit within them, 
the Spirit-Life that makes life an ecstasy unto 
itself. This Life of Joy Absolute is illumined 
by its own Light by the aid of which they see 
all Nature as through a transparent glass, they 
see everything with the ensouled mind's eye — 
not by the physical eye — for they live within 
that ensouled mind and rarely come out to the 
surface called the physical plane. When they 
do, they feel as if the experiences of that physi- 
cal plane are, as it were, the experiences of a 
dream, while the experiences of the ensouled 

74 



THE GOLDEN AGE. 

mind they feel as the Reality, the only Reality. 
I have already said that the three Cardinal 
Attributes, (Sattwa, Raja and Tama) Illu- 
mination, Activity and Darkness, are the joint 
parents of the Principles which compose all 
creation. When the forces of these Attributes 
fall into equilibrium, the dissolution of the uni- 
verse takes place and the equalized Attributes 
merge into one another and become trans- 
formed into a substance quite different from 
their own. That substance is called Shuddha 
Sattwa — Pure Illumination. In Sattwa there 
is a mixture of some Raja and Tama ; in Raja 
there is a mixture of some Sattwa and Tama ; 
similarly, in Tama, there is some mixture of 
Sattwa and Raja. In Shuddha Sattwa, the 
Sattwa is free from the other two attributes. 
Krishna (Absolute Love) is Purest Sattwa. 
The equalizing of the forces of the Attributes 
transforms them into Pure Illumination no 
doubt, but the transformation is temporary. 
Krishna (Absolute Love) is Permanent Pur- 
est Illumination. But even the temporary 
attainment, by the Attributes, of the Shuddha 
Sattwa state makes them for the time being 
75 



SREE KRISHNA. 

the same substance as this First Principle and 
brings about their absorption into it as long 
as they keep in that state. This is almost ex- 
actly as the germ of a tree remains merged 
in and becomes part and parcel of the kernel 
of its seed. And as when the seed is put into 
the soil, the action of germination separates 
from that kernel the germ which then grows 
into a tree, so when in time the forces of the 
merged Attributes fall out of equilibrium by 
Raja (Activity) asserting itself, they get sepa- 
rated and manifest themselves into the Uni- 
verse. At first the activity of Raja is feeble 
and Sattwa predominates. Out of predom- 
inant Sattwa springs the Mind, Raja brings 
forth the Ten Senses and Tama the Five 
Essences and the Five Gross Forms of matter. 
And all objects and animals and men and gods 
and earth and heaven are but different degrees 
of blendings of the Three Attributes. 

The Satya Yuga (Golden Age) at the be- 
ginning of creation is so full of Sattwa (Illu- 
mination) that all Nature is made of materials 
almost transparent as ether. The matter of 
this first Golden Age is so fine that it would be 
76 



THE GOLDEN AGE. 

invisible to the eye of our gross flesh of this 
distant Kali (Iron Age). Even in the last 
Golden Age, Nature was made up of such fine 
matter that it would look, to our gross vision 
of this day, as pictures of light. 

Why is Nature in the Golden Age so 
ethereal? Because the Attribute of Illumina- 
tion is predominant in that cycle. All is Illu- 
mination, within and without. Through this 
illumination the Golden Age people see the 
Steady, Changeless substance which is the 
Life and Light of which the outer universe is 
but the shadow. And with the spirit of this 
Changeless Love and Life and Light in One 
before their mind's vision, they cannot but 
feel that its distorted, changeful manifesta- 
tions called objects are made of fabrics of 
which dreams are made of. Even they them- 
selves are etheric and irridescent, not visible 
to the physical eye of the Dark Age, but 
always visible to the inner eye of men of any 
age — to the eye of the highly evolved man 
whose sight is more spiritual than physical. 
Ether is cognized through etheric vibrations — 
light alone recognizes light. 
77 



SREE KRISHNA. 

For the First Quarter of the Satya Yuga or 
Golden Age (One Thousand Divine Years) 
this perfect state of Universal Holiness pre- 
vails on earth and among mankind. This is 
the original of the recorded vision said to have 
been seen by St. John the Divine as embodied 
in Chapters 20, 21 and 22 of his Revelations. 
This is the Millennium spoken of in the Holy 
Bible when Satan ( Sin — Tama — Darkness ) , 
it is said, will be bound and cast into a bot- 
tomless pit, shut up and set a seal upon, 
and holiness will become triumphant through- 
out the world. This means the predominance 
of Sattwa (Illumination) in man and Nature 
and Tama (darkness) will "be drowned under 
it. The people will live on the fruits of the 
Tree of Life — in the Essence of Love. They 
will live face to face with God, that is, in per- 
fect realization of His Spirit — Love. This 
Millennium will begin with the First Quarter 
of the coming Satya Yuga (Golden Age), the 
New Divine cycle which will be ushered in 
after the expiration of the Kali Yuga (also 
called Iron or Dark Age) we are now living 
in. That time is far away yet, how far I shall 
78 



THE GOLDEN AGE. 

in a succeeding Section attempt to indicate. 
As already suggested, the Golden Age condi- 
tions of Nature are the physical manifestation 
of a higher sphere. According to the Hindoo 
Scriptures there are Seven Spheres (Lokas) 
or Heavens. People in the West speak of the 
Seventh Heaven. Few know where the ex- 
pression has come from, fewer that it has come 
from the Hindoos who believe in the Seven 
Heavens. The first is the Earth. (Bhur) 
which is counted as a heaven because heavenly 
joys can be tasted on the earth plane. Above 
the Earth is the Bhuba Sphere, the Second 
Heaven. Above Bhuba is Swar the Third; 
above Swar is Mahar the Fourth ; above Mahar 
is Jana the Fifth ; above Jana is Tapa the 
Sixth, and above Tapa is the Satya Loka 
(Seventh). The Golden Age state of the earth 
is but a reflection of this Satya Sphere on its 
Sattwa (Transparently Illuminated) surface. 
The men and women are angels on earth and 
meet and have communications with gods and 
angels ; and at times even Brahma, the Creator, 
Shiva, the Destroyer, and Vishnoo the Pre- 
server, come down on earth and hold converse 
79 



SREE KRISHNA. 

with these perfectly pure human beings. 
Earth then is "Heaven Below/' and it is hard 
to tell, when men mingle with the gods and 
angels when the latter come down to meet 
them, which are the gods and angels and which 
are the men. 

Saint John's Revelation 21 in the Holy Bi- 
ble attempts to give some glimpse of this pic- 
ture of the Golden Age : 

"And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; 
for the first heaven and the first earth were 
passed away; and there was no more sea. 

"2. And I, John, saw the holy city, new 
Jerusalem, coming down from God out of 
heaven prepared as a bride adorned for her 
husband. 

"3. And I heard a great voice out of heaven 
saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with 
men, and he will dwell with them, and they 
shall be his people, and God himself shall be 
with them, and be their God. 

"4. And God shall wipe away all tears from 
their eyes ; and there shall be no more death, 
nor sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be 
any more pain ; for the former things are 
passed away/' 

80 



THE GOLDEN AGE. 

What St. John describes as "a new heaven 
and a new earth' 1 is the illuminated heaven 
and earth — illuminated by Sattwa, which de- 
stroys the darkness (Tama) of the preceding 
Kali (Iron) Age which pervades Nature dur- 
ing its sway. The "holy city, new Jerusalem, 
coming down from God out of heaven/' is the 
reflection of the Satya Loka (the Heaven of 
Truth), which comes down as it were and mir- 
rors itself on earth. The Golden Age earth 
is really a bride adorned for her husband, God, 
for, in the Hindoo Scriptures, Earth has been 
called the Bride of Vishnoo (God). The mean- 
ing of the third verse can be more easily un- 
derstood as it speaks of the spiritual con- 
dition of the Golden Age I have described al- 
ready. 

The fourth verse supports the fact of the 
unbroken peace and happiness which dwells 
on earth during the Golden Age. Men know 
no sorrow, nor crying, nor pain. They are 
happy and are ever filled with joy. "And 
there shall be no more death" — this is very 
important testimony to the one statement in 

81 



SREE KRISHNA. 

the Hindoo Scriptures about the Golden Age 
men and women which is more apt to be dis- 
credited than any other. In them it is said 
that in the Golden Age men and women can 
live for one hundred thousand years and die 
at will, which is corroborated by St. John, 
who says, "and there shall be no more death." 
Life in the Golden Age, say the Hindoo 
Books, is sustained by the marrow of the bones ; 
man lives as long as there is marrow in his 
bones. Death and disease are caused by ac- 
cumulation of sin, which is the result of im- 
proper, unnatural living, living, that is, in vio- 
lation of Nature's spiritual laws. The Golden 
Age men live in absolute harmony with these 
laws, and are therefore liable neither to death 
nor to disease. Men are filled, in this age, "in 
full measure of virtue" and sin has no place in 
it, not a trace of it anywhere. 

This is the state of Nature and human so- 
ciety which is reproduced in the beginning and 
first quarter of every Golden Age, which forms 
the first largest section of every Divine Cycle. 
This is real Universal Brotherhood, the union 
of soul to soul being brought about by the 

82 



THE GOLDEN AGE. 

general recognition of the One Spirit which 
is the root, sustenance and life of all mani- 
festations in Xature. Spirit only makes man 
brotherly, and the feeling of the One and the 
Same spirit is the source of true brotherhood, 
and until One Love is for all, souls shall be 
separated and countries will war with coun- 
tries. Every one in the Golden Age looks upon 
every one else as himself, as it were. It is 
more than Ideal Brotherhood in this state of 
society ; it is real, practical, spontaneous broth- 
erhood, brought about by the Attribute of Illu- 
mination having full play within all created 
matter, objects and beings. They are united 
from within, not through outside forces, and 
so close and natural is the union that they do 
not realize that it is anything unusual at all, 
even in the deep demonstrations of spontane- 
ous love which they feel for one another. 

If such is the high state of perfection which 
men attain in the Golden Age, the animal and 
the vegetable kingdoms also share the bene- 
fit of the predominance of illumination in Na- 
ture, of w T hich men and animals and vege- 
tation are but different phases of manifesta- 

83 



SREE KRISHNA. 

tions. We have read in the so-called fables 
and fairy-books of a time in which animals 
were wont to speak, and as in our day they 
do not speak at all, we regard such statements 
and stories as myths. But they are not myths, 
however absurd they may strike us, viewed 
from our practical experiences of animals in 
our Kali Age life. If the animals of this 
Kali (Dark) Age cannot speak, that is no rea- 
son why animals of an enlightened age should 
not be able to speak. But this is what forms 
the chief difficulty in the way of our believing 
in such stories. We have been hypnotized 
by our conceit into believing that ours is the 
most enlightened age and that we are far 
ahead in enlightenment and advancement of 
intellect of our remote ancestors of, what we 
complacently term, the "primitive" ages, mean- 
ing thereby ages in which men were either 
savages or half-savages. If this were true, 
the animals of those ages could be imagined 
as worse in habits, powers and instincts than 
those of our "advanced" age. Alas, however, 
it is not true! Our remotest ancestors, whom 
we, in our dense ignorance of facts of that 
84 



THE GOLDEN AGE. 

remote past, love to call savages, were such 
giants in intellect, spirituality and moral force 
that our average best spiritual, intellectual and 
moral men cannot be compared with them. 
We are indeed fast losing our moral depth 
which was the sheet-anchor of their character. 
Why? Because our minds are getting more 
and more dense than those of even the near 
past, not to speak of those of the remote ages. 
Vvhy? Because Nature herself is getting 
denser and denser every day with the grow- 
ing influence of Tama (Darkness) which is 
the ruling attribute of this Iron Age. We are 
the products of Nature — we all, men and 
beasts and trees and grass. Our density is to 
be traced to our parent — Dame Nature. This 
growing density which pervades our minds is 
daily making us less spiritual and intellectual 
than our forefathers. No wonder it has af- 
fected the body and senses of animals as well. 
Illuminated Nature illuminates animals as 
well in the Satya Yuga. Animals then have 
more intelligence, better perception and keener 
instincts than now, and share the love-spirit 
of which all earth is full. They talk like man, 
85 



SREE KRISHNA. 

although not in the same clear and sweet voice 
as man. They roam about with men and love 
one another as men do. There are no domes- 
tic animals in this part of the Golden Age, 
for man has no home or house. There are no 
wild animals, for all animals are tame, tamed 
by the spirit of harmony within and without 
them. The cow roams about free, giving milk 
to whoever will drink it out of her udder. 

The trees in the Satya Yuga are large and 
tall in proportion to the height of men, which 
is 21 cubits. They are overladen with sweet- 
est and juiciest fruits. All kinds of corn grow 
wild and abundantly without any tending or 
cultivation. The whole earth is a natural gar- 
den, orchard and granary for all created beings 
to enjoy and draw sustenance from when 
needed. Here I quote a poem written under 
inspiration after seeing a trance-vision of the 
Golden Age, by one of my students, Miss Rose 
R. Anthon : 

Palpitating with love, 
Like a mother's breast, 

As she views her babe 
As it sinks to rest. 

86 



THE GOLDEN AGE. 

Like a million bees 
Throbbing with life. 

Each cell a world 
In the citied hive. 

This was the land 

I slept to see, 
The land my dream 

Unfolded to me. 

Here Love did reign, 
Love life did greet, 

Life crowned with love 
The heart did meet. 

Here wondrous song 
The birds did sing, 

And oh the echoes 
The skies did ring! 

And oh the peace 

The heart did know! 

And oh the lack 
Of haunting woe! 

87 



SREE KRISHNA. 

Here man commune 
With God did hold, 

The doe ran abreast 
With the lion bold. 

The hawk and the dove 
Shared one nest; 

The lamb and leopard 
Suckled one breast. 

The tender nurslings, 
The soft young things, 

Eager their minds, 
Like outspread wings. 

The flowers nodded 

Their faces fair; 
Sunbeams embraced 

The perfumed air. 

Little children 

With Nature grew; 
Skies overhead, 

'Neath feet the dew. 

88 



THE GOLDEN AGE. 

The happy youth 
The maid did woo, 

Free as the stars 
The moon did view. 

With joy I beheld, 
In this sweet land 

Unspoilt was love 
By sin's hot hand. 

No knots of guile 
The heart did bind, 

No souring doubts 
Disturbed the mind. 

Here livid hate 

No place did hold; 

Jackal and calf 
Entered one fold. 

Nor envy's sneer 

Belined the face, 
Nor fiery lust 

Filched beauty's grace. 

89 



SREE KRISHNA. 

But rayed with peace 

Was every eye, 
And all unknown 

Was panting sigh. 

In every heart 

Was Love enthroned, 
And every voice 

Had Hope entoned. 

Such was the land 

I slept to see, 
The land my dream 

Unfolded to me. 



90 



SECTION VI. 

THE SILVER AGE. 

Thus, during the first quarter of the Golden 
Age. covering 1,000 divine years, which are 
equal to 360,000 lunar years, its predominant 
spirituality sustains itself in its full vigor. 
The next quarter is almost equally powerful 
in spirituality. But after the middle is passed, 
a little decline is perceptible, not so much in 
spirituality as in the outward habits of the 
people. During this period the Vedic truths 
reveal themselves through the mediums of 
the entranced minds of some of the highly 
illuminated men. Now, what is a Vedic 
truth? It is an expression in sound- form of 
one of the inmost laws of Nature. Before this 
period the Golden Age people breathe, move 
and have their being in these laws — as sensi- 
tive embodiments of these laws. They are, as 
it were, moving Vedas — human flesh-vehicles 
moved and manipulated from within by the 
basic laws of all Existence. The predominant 

91 



SREE KRISHNA. 

Sattwa in its extreme purity, which is the 
essence of physical Nature in the Golden Age, 
blends with these laws so harmoniously that 
they form the self-acting mechanism of all 
motion of its materialized counterpart. So 
long as these people are in perfect unison with 
these inner laws, vibrating spontaneously with 
their vibrations, they are quite unconscious of 
the operations of these laws, or even of the 
laws themselves within them ; so long they live 
as unconscious moving manifestations of the 
laws. But the moment they become conscious 
of them, then that consciousness expresses 
itself in the form of thoughts, and these 
thoughts find expression in words through the 
medium of some entranced minds. These are 
called the Eternal Truths of the Veda, truths 
which are the foundations and sources of all 
truths promulgated by the illumined sages of 
all climes and times ever afterwards. 

Just as, so long as we are perfectly healthy, 
we remain unconscious of our health and enjoy 
the blessing of health most; but when some 
disorder creeps into our system, we become 
conscious of it and feel indisposed and try to 

92 



THE SILVER AGE, 

adjust its lost equilibrium. Towards the end 
of the third quarter of the Golden Age, a slight 
disorder is felt in the spiritual health of the 
people. Then a readjustment of the slight 
loss of the equilibrium is made with the aid of 
contemplation of the meaning of these Vedic 
truths which are revealed through the still 
perfectly spiritual souls. Before this time all 
of them live the truths unconsciously; now 
they live the truths consciously. This indi- 
cates their fall from their absolutely healthy 
state of spirituality. The degeneration in- 
creases with time at a very slow rate, however, 
for Sattwa is still predominant, although Raja 
(Activity) has begun to assert itself more and 
more until the end of the Golden Age is 
reached, when the action of Raja becomes 
fully perceptible. 

This pronounced assertion of Raja within all 
Nature is betrayed by outward signs and symp- 
toms. Distinct changes are observable in the 
thoughts and actions of men, while there is 
decrease in the w T ild natural growth and pro- 
ducts of edible fruits, roots and corn. These 
main features of change mark the end of Satya 

93 



SREE KRISHNA, 

Yuga (Golden Age) and the beginning of the 
Treta Yuga (Silver Age). 

From natural all-absorbing, inward concen- 
tration upon the basic principle of the Uni- 
verse — Love — and drawing absolute never- 
failing happiness therefrom, most people now 
begin to look outwards for happiness, trying to 
draw it from the enjoyment of material objects. 
A small portion, however, still retains the same 
inward look and enjoys the primeval ecstatic 
condition of the mind. These still live on the 
Tree of Life. But those who look outwards 
and try to draw happiness from without, eat 
for the first time of the fruit of the Tree of 
Knowledge, as indicated by the figurative lan- 
guage of the Christian Bible. So long as they 
do not look outwards, they do not know of 
material pleasure, pleasure which is mixed 
with pain, Rajasic pleasure, pleasure which 
lasts for only a short while, pleasure which has 
reaction of pain or cessation. 

This knowledge of material pleasure and 
hankering for securing them is the fall of 
humanity. The cause of this outward-looking 
is to be traced to the assertion of the Cardinal 

94 



THE SILVER AGE. 

Attribute of Activity (Raja) within Nature 
rather than to any fault in her products them- 
selves. Predominant Sattwa (Illumination) 
maintains the harmony in the mind induced by 
calm concentration upon one object and that 
object a steady, Changeless one. Predominant 
Raja (Activity) destroys this harmony and 
calmness by making the mind active with 
thoughts of many objects. This state of activ- 
ity itself turns the point of the mind's ken out- 
wards and disturbs its harmony. The mind 
is active only when it has to deal with the im- 
pressions of more than one object. When the 
surface of a mirror is turned towards the sky, 
it reflects only that one blue sky. When it is 
turned towards the earth it reflects many ob- 
jects. Such is the case with the mirror of the 
mind. When it is turned inwards to the soul, 
it reflects its one all-pervading, colorless radi- 
ance and is therefore tranquil and happy. 
When it is turned outwards, it reflects the 
many-colored objects and is disturbed by their 
conflicting attributes. 

All through the Golden Age the mirror of 
the human mind is kept turned inwards to 



SREE KRISHNA, 

the soul and reflects nothing but the soul of 
things. At the end of that blessed period, the 
natural assertion of Raja turns it outwards to 
external objects which at once reflect them- 
selves in it. From this time people begin to 
take serious cognizance of their surroundings 
and privileges, and to think of material enjoy- 
ment, to taste material pleasures. Living the 
natural Love-Life of the Golden Age is living 
on the fruit of the Tree of Life. Love alone 
is life ; it is the source of all life. The dawn- 
ing of the knowledge of material pleasure is 
eating for the first time of the fruit of the 
Tree of Knowledge — material knowledge. The 
first hankering for it is the persuasive voice of 
the Evil One, called in Sanscrit, Maya. Maya 
means illusion, that which is unsubstantial to 
the inner sight yet seems and looks substantial 
to our outer (material) sight. Good and evil 
may be called the equivalents of the two San- 
scrit words "Sat" and "Asat." Good is "Sat" 
which means that which exists by itself, which 
has substance. Evil is "Asat" which means 
non-existent, which has no existence (sub- 
stance) of its own. Good is God (Love). 

96 



THE SILVER AGE. 

Evil is that which partakes of, or is related to, 
the phases of unsubstantial (changeful) mani- 
festations which form the shroud of the only 
Reality — Love. To have our mind's vision 
turned from this Reality to its Unreal Shroud 
and mistaking it as the Real, constitutes our 
fall — the Fall of Mankind spoken of in the 
Bible. As long as we know nothing but the 
Truth and live absolutely in that Truth, we 
have no idea of the False (evil), the deceptive 
real-looking Unreal. But the moment we are 
attracted by the Unreal and live in it, we begin 
to have knowledge of both Good (the Real) 
and Evil (the Unreal). We become so at- 
tached to the Unreal that we cannot leave it, 
although we know it to be Unreal (evil). Here 
is born what is called "conscience," which is 
the warner of sin — this living in the Unreal 
though we know it is so and that we should 
not live in it. 

This is the state of mind of the major por- 
tion of the Silver Age people. With this out- 
ward-looking of their mind begins the hunting 
for Absolute Happiness on the surface of life, 
instead of in its deepest depth where it dwells. 

97 



SREE KRISHNA. 

This search for it through material pleasures 
ends in this real object of that search being 
lost from their view and the pleasures them- 
selves taking its place. This last stage of 
mental degradation is not true, however, of 
all the people of the age. A small portion still 
retain much of the high spirituality of the 
Golden Age. Some are swayed by predomi- 
nant Raja, others are ruled by Raja and Tama, 
while others are covered almost entirely by 
Tama. This leads to the division of the 
people into castes. Those who are uninflu- 
enced by the assertive Raja are called Brah- 
mans; those swayed by Raja are called Ksha- 
triyas; those by Raja and Tama are called 
Vaishyas ; those mostly ruled by Tama are 
called Sudras. I have treated the caste system 
at some length in the next section. 

Tastes for material comforts involve house- 
keeping, and housekeeping is impracticable 
without a house. The people therefore build 
houses to live in for the first time in the De- 
generation period of the Satya Yuga. The 
Treta is called the Silver Age because gold, 
the spiritual metal, becomes less abundant with 

98 



THE SILVER AGE. 

the decrease in spirituality in Nature, and sil- 
ver is found in abundance. People in the Satya 
Yuga use gold for household utensils, hence 
the Satya Yuga is called the Golden Age. The 
period in which gold plates come into use does 
not belong to the Golden Age proper. It is 
used in what is called the Degeneration (San- 
dhyangsa) period of the Golden Age. Every 
Age has a Junction period and a Degeneration 
period, called in the Hindoo Scriptures, the 
Twilight Periods. These periods are of equal 
length. The morning Twilight period of the 
Satya Yuga is 400 divine years, equal to 144,- 
000 lunar years. Of the same length is its 
evening Twilight period. The morning Twi- 
light period represents the Junction period, 
the junction between the previous Kali and 
the Satya Yugas. The evening Twilight 
period may be called the degeneration of the 
Satya Yuga. It is in this degeneration period 
covering 144,000 years, that Raja asserts itself 
and people begin to turn to material pleasures, 
build houses, wear clothes, take to house- 
keeping, eat cooked food and generally use 
gold plates, gold being abundant and on ac- 

99 
L ofC. 



SREE KRISHNA. 

count of its possessing pure (spiritual) mag- 
netism, purer than that of other metals. 

The average human height in the Silver 
Age is 14 cubit or 21 feet, average longevity 
of human life is 10,000 years; human vitality 
is centered in the strength of the bones; man 
lives as long as his bones sustain their strength. 
In the Golden Age men enjoy full measure of 
spirituality. Virtue resides in them, in the 
language of the Shastras, in full four quarters. 
In the Treta, owing to the decrease of spirit- 
uality, virtue loses one-quarter and retains 
three. In the Golden Age, they are natural 
embodiments of Vedic wisdom. In the Treta, 
they have to study that wisdom, as it ex- 
presses itself through entranced Sages, to keep 
up spirituality. And as the Silver Age ad- 
vances, the increased influence of more and 
more assertive Raja within them makes it more 
and more imperative on all religious teachers 
and kings to direct people's attention to the 
necessity of wider and deeper study and prac- 
tice of Vedic truths. 

As I have said, in the Golden Age there are 
no carnal relations between man and woman, 

100 



THE SILVER AGE. 

so is there none in the Silver Age, although 
man and woman as husband and wife live to- 
gether in houses, have housekeeping and enjoy 
material comforts. Yet, strange as it will 
strike most of us here at this distance of time, 
the Golden Age and Silver Age women bear 
and give birth to children. The child is born 
in the womb of its mother at the wish and 
command of the husband. The wife asks her 
husband for a child, and the husband of the 
Golden Age, who is a miniature creator in the 
potency of his mind-force, says, "So be it," 
and the wife at once conceives. But she has no 
pain of child-bearing or child-birth to suffer 
from. The child is born soon after, and, at 
times, almost immediately. In the Treta Yuga, 
the conception takes place in some cases in 
the same manner, and, in most cases, through 
the eating by the wife of "charoo," a mixture 
of boiled rice, milk, sugar and butter — mag- 
netized by mystic words or the will-force of a 
psychic husband or a saint or a Brahman — 
a magnetism which draws into the preparation 
a disembodied spirit who passes into the body 
of the wife through the food. 

101 



SREE KRISHNA. 

The difficulty in believing this process of 
child conception lies in the ignorance which 
now prevails in the minds of most people of 
the modern world, especially in those of West- 
erners, as to the origin of conception, as to 
how conception takes place. The prevailing 
idea, formed from the teachings of imperfect 
modern science, is that it is the male seed 
itself planted in the female soil that begets 
and develops into the child. No greater fal- 
lacy can exist than this idea. Modern science 
is progressive, and in the process of time that 
progress will surely open its eyes to the true 
fact in regard to this matter. It will then find 
that it is the invisible germ hidden inside the 
seed, the subtle form of organism encased in 
the thickened juice of the tree which the 
seed is, that develops into the shoot and the 
tree and not merely the juice itself. This 
subtle organism enters into the forming bud 
from outside. Without this incoming subtle 
organism no seed can germinate, neither does 
a seed germinate, as is well known, of which 
the germ has been destroyed. Similarly, no 
conception can take place without a disem- 

102 



THE SILVER AGE. 

bodied soul — a human germ — entering the 
human seed when planted in the human soil. 
The juice of the seed and the juice of the soil 
form but the physical body of the child. The 
astral body, which is encased in this physical 
body, comes from without to dwell in that 
seed and leaves the developed physical body 
at death, which is nothing but the total dis- 
organization of the physical body. The astral 
body never dies unless it is destroyed by bring- 
ing about absolute equilibrium of the three 
Cardinal Attributes, which form the Ego of 
man, through spiritual development. I have 
treated this subject more fully under the head- 
ing of "Reincarnation." 

The length of the Silver Age proper is 
3,000 divine years, equal to 1,080,000 human 
(lunar) years with the two Twilight (the 
Junction and the Degeneration) Periods, of 
108.000 years each, in addition. 



103 



SECTION VII. 

THE CASTE SYSTEM. 

I have said that at the end of the Golden 
Age and during its degeneration period, peo- 
ple's minds lose their tranquil equilibrium and 
look outwards for happines. At this stage of 
the disturbance within Nature and humanity 
occasioned by the assertion of the Raja attri- 
bute, the caste system comes into existence. 
The object of the caste system is to preserve 
as much order and harmony in human society 
as possible and prevent its disruption into in- 
dividual units. In the Golden Age all the peo- 
ple are as one family, in the Silver Age they 
are divided into four families, divided accord- 
ing to their inclinations, habits and actions, 
and harmonious relations being established 
with one another through laws and inter- 
dependence. Those who still retain their per- 
fected spirituality by subduing the influence 
of Raja are called Brahmans which means 
those who know or still dwell in Brahm — the 

104 



THE CASTE SYSTEM. 

Spirit of God. They are considered the head 
of the other castes because they are the em- 
bodiments of spiritual wisdom which is the 
chiefest requisite in the building of character 
and the higher development of the human 
soul. Some of them still retain their Golden 
Age habits of life, others clothe themselves 
with the barks of trees and live on fruits and 
nuts and roots in the forests, in huts made of 
tree-trunks and leaves. They pass their days 
and nights in contemplation of the Deity, the 
Divine Spirit and its Laws operating within 
Nature and inculcate these truths into the 
minds of the other classes of people. 

Those who, being unable to subdue the influ- 
ence of Raja, are swayed by passions and be- 
come bold, spirited and filled with material 
desires are called Kshatriyas. They become 
rulers of the other two castes. These are the 
first Kings and Rulers of men. But they rule 
according to the injunctions of inspired Codes 
of laws, laws which are propounded with the 
object of the highest- good of humanity in 
view, as well as the propagation of peace and 
goodwill among all classes of people. 

105 



SREE KRISHNA. 

According to these laws the King's first 
duty is to look to the material welfare of his 
subjects; the second is to protect them from 
injustice and aggression; the third is to help 
their moral and spiritual development; in 
short, the King's duty is to treat his subjects 
as his children. If any King fail to perform 
these duties to the satisfaction of his subjects 
or become aggressive towards them, he is im- 
mediately removed from his throne by the 
Brahmans (Rishis), the all-powerful Brah- 
mans, who always have the welfare of God's 
creatures at heart, and whose spiritual powers 
are mightier than kingly weapons and might. 
The Brahmans are called the "gods of earth" 
(Bhudevas) on account of their disinterested 
love of humanity and self-sacrificing devotion 
for its welfare and their irresistible spiritual 
and psychical powers to carry their objects for 
the good of humanity into action. 

Those among the Golden Age people in 
whom excessive action of Raja develops some 
Tama as well, and partly covers the Sattwa 
Attribute, form yet another distinct caste. 
They are called Vaishyas. While the Ksha- 
106 



THE CASTE SYSTEM. 

triyas occupy themselves in taking over the 
control and government of countries and peo- 
ples, the Vaishyas take to the occupation of 
agriculture, commerce and raising of cattle, 
as much in their own individual material in- 
terests as in the interests of all humanity. In 
the Golden Age, owing to the fulness of spirit- 
uality within Nature, all kinds of giains grow 
wild and abundant. With the decrease of that 
spirituality towards its end, these natural 
products of the earth diminish in quality and 
quantity, while the growing material instincts 
in people bring about their larger consumption, 
thereby creating greater demand for them. 
This increased demand is supplied by cultiva- 
tion by the Vaishyas. 

Those, again, among the Golden Age people 
who, owing to the predominance of the Tama 
Attribute in them, are filled with envy and 
greed, and become untruthful and devoid of 
clean habits of life and take to all sorts of low 
means and ways for their living are classed 
as Sudras. The Kshatriya rulers compel these 
Sudras for their own good as well as the good 
of all other classes of people to take service 
107 



SREE KRISHNA. 

under the three upper castes as domestic ser- 
vants, so that by contact and association with 
their masters and by the examples of their 
purer ideas and habits of life they may be 
elevated in morals and conduct. 

The science and wisdom which are the foun- 
dation of the caste system of the Silver Age 
people and which still form the backbone of 
the degenerate remnants of these primeval 
people, now known as Hindoos, are worthy 
of study of all civilized mankind of the pres- 
ent day. It is the scientific law of the caste 
system which has preserved the indestructible 
individuality of the Hindoos as a race ; it is the 
chief source of strength which has supplied 
their inexhaustible vitality as a nation; the 
never failing force which has insured the per- 
manency of their existence on the face of the 
globe. It is a system, the absence of which in 
the organization of all other human societies, 
modern and ancient, has been the cause of 
their decay and death. The Hindoo caste sys- 
tem is based upon laws of the inmost science 
of life, the laws which modern scientists are 
trying so hard and yet so hopelessly to dis- 

108 



THE CASTE SYSTEM. 

cover and understand through wrong pro- 
cesses of investigation. Modern scientists 
are boastful of their achievements in the field 
of discovery of Nature's laws and imagine 
they have learned almost all of Nature's se- 
crets, while in truth they know but a few of 
her surface-laws the mainsprings of which 
are to be found deep down in the mental and 
spiritual strata of which they even dream not 
of — a realm which must ever remain closed to 
purely objective investigation. 

It is as wrong to try to study Nature from 
the operations of her physical laws as to govern 
and guide human beings by the aid of the de- 
ceptive light of those laws. The physical is 
the manifestation of the mental plane, as the 
mental is the manifestation of the spiritual 
plane, as I have shown in previous Sections. 
The phenomena of the physical plane of Na- 
ture are deceptive to the purely physical vision 
because they are the product of Tama — dark- 
ened Raja. Deceptive also are the phenomena 
of the mental plane — though not as deceptive 
as those of the physical — to a mental vision the 
light of which is not derived from the spiritual 

109 



SREE KRISHNA, 

plane — the mysterious machine room which 
alone supplies the life-substance and spring of 
action to the mental and physical planes. The 
student of physical and mental Nature who is 
not provided with the microscope of spiritual 
insight is apt almost invariably to read her in 
both these aspects incorrectly. He should not, 
therefore, be considered a safe guide for the 
healthy and harmonious development of hu- 
man character, which is but a part and phase 
of one whole Nature called the Universe. 

The laws operating in the deepest depth of 
Nature can only be seen and studied by the 
illumination of the soul, the Radiance of 
Krishna's Body. These the Brahmans, the 
portion of the Golden Age people who still 
retain their high state of spirituality, study and 
learn and utilize in codifying principles and 
rules for regulating the daily life of the rest of 
the people. The conception of the caste sys- 
tem betrays their intimate knowledge of these 
inner natural laws upon which it is based and 
the profound wisdom with which its organiza- 
tion to the minutest details is arranged. The 
organization of the caste system is, in fact, 

no 



THE CASTE SYSTEM. 

devised after the organization of the human 
body — after the inner and the outer human 
body. The entire caste system is like a huge 
living human body — living with its organs and 
senses in harmonious working order and its 
mind contributing to and enjoying the effect 
of that harmony and feeling the higher planes 
to which the effect of that harmony elevates. 
What is the most needed essential for the 
healthy, harmonious and useful conduct of 
human life? Love, Intelligence and Wisdom. 
I had almost said Love or Wisdom, for Intelli- 
gence and Wisdom are but manifestations of 
Love. Intelligence is the light of Love, and 
wisdom is but its reflection on its own en- 
lightened shadow — the mind. Wisdom like- 
wise embodies both Love and its light. With- 
out wisdom a human being is like a wayward, 
mischievous animal. Our wisdom (intelli- 
gence and thought) inspire and guide our 
actions. Good thoughts lead us to good ac- 
tions, bad thoughts lead us to bad actions. We 
are nothing but our mind and our mind is 
nothing but our thoughts — commingled effects 
of the reflections upon the mind of external 

ill 



SREE KRISHNA. 

objects and internal impressions of previous 
reflections of objects, called Ideas. Thoughts 
that lead us to bad actions, that is to say, ac- 
tions which hurt others and us too, which 
bring inharmony to others and finally to our 
own mind, are neither beneficial nor useful to 
our life ; they are injurious to its best interests. 
Wisdom (harmonious, useful thoughts) is 
therefore the most essential requisite of hu- 
man life. Without it power and wealth are 
apt always to be misused and misdirected, re- 
sulting in loss of harmony. And harmony is 
happiness, happiness which is the goal of all 
our quests and efforts in life. 

Thus the Brahmans, who devote them- 
selves absolutely to acquiring wisdom by com- 
muning with the Soul of Nature and its finest 
and purest attributes, and to supplying them 
to those who do not any more enjoy that ad- 
vantage and privilege, naturally form the head 
— the seat of wisdom and intelligence — of the 
social organization, called the four-castes. The 
lower three castes are indebted to the Brah- 
mans for wisdom which they receive from 
them in the form of lessons and codified laws 

112 



THE CASTE SYSTEM. 

of life which guide their daily existence, just 
as every one of us is indebted to our intelli- 
gence and wisdom for performing the func- 
tions of life to our own and our neighbors' 
benefit. Hence the Brahmans, who supply the 
most important essential of life, are protected, 
provided for and paid utmost homage to, by 
all the other castes. 

Next to wisdom comes strength, physical 
and mental, another greatly needed requisite 
of human life. A man needs mind-force to 
rule his own mind and body as well as those of 
others to whom he is related, in order to main- 
tain harmony within and without. He needs 
also physical strength to defend himself and 
others against attacks and aggressions and 
prevent encroachments by others upon his 
property and interests, The Kshatriyas 
(Kings) form and supply this requisite to the 
four-caste organism. They form the arms of 
the Caste-Body, arms being symbolical of 
strength and ruling power. Without a power- 
ful, noble ruler, all communities of men are 
liable to find themselves in disorder and inhar- 
mony and to suffer from lawlessness and in- 

113 



SREE KRISHNA. 

justice, just as a man who has no strength to 
defend himself from aggression is liable to be 
robbed of his possessions and be miserable. 

More important than the duty of protecting 
the life and property of his subjects is the 
King's duty to help their moral and spiritual 
well-being. And this the king does by en- 
forcing the performance of the religious duties 
appertaining to each of the three castes as en- 
joined in the Vedic laws, discovered and enun- 
ciated by the holy ones. Those who do not 
perform these duties and practices are pun- 
ished by temporary excommunication and, if 
still persistent in disobeying the injunctions, 
by absolute banishment from all societies. 
These early sages have always held that pre- 
vention is better and easier than cure of dis- 
eases, physical, mental or spiritual. Regular 
spiritual practices, performed daily, form 
habits, and spiritual habits cleanse the impuri- 
ties of the mind which then becomes fit to re- 
flect the highest spiritual truths by the light of 
which man witnesses the unity of all Nature, 
feels the ecstasy of the One Essence which per- 
vades it and stands face to face with his Maker. 

114 



THE CASTE SYSTEM. 

The next essential of harmonious human life 
is food. Most people of our day will say that 
food is rather the first essential of life. We, 
in this degenerate age, have indeed come -to 
think so. But the Silver Age people, as well 
as all really thoughtful people amongst us, do 
not think so. Food does sustain life, no doubt, 
but that life, if void of wisdom and force of 
mind, is not worth living. It is the life of an 
animal or a vegetable. Food is essential to 
life; so are wisdom and mental force. Is our 
life sustained by food alone? I should think 
not, unless it be the life of a man who is but a 
little removed from a beast. Happy thoughts 
furnish the chief support of our life. Our life 
depends more upon happy and harmonious 
thoughts than food. If our thoughts are sad 
and gloomy, we do not enjoy life at all or feel 
that we are living, although we may eat the 
daintiest food, be surrounded by luxuries and 
have plenty of the world's goods. Many of 
us destroy this food-sustained life suffering 
from the pangs of miserable thoughts, many 
die of broken heart and other diseases brought 
on by the continued pressure of sad thoughts, 
lis 



SREE KRISHNA. 

although well fed and well clothed and well 
supplied with money and other material com- 
forts of life. 

The Vaishyas represent the vital vigor of 
the Four-Caste organism, and as, according to 
the Shastras, the seat of the vital vigor is the 
loins, the Vaishyas form the loins of that body. 
The Silver Age Vaishyas take to cultivation of 
the soil, raising of cattle and trade more for 
the weal of all mankind than for their own 
personal aggrandizement. 

The Sudras are the feet of the Four-Caste 
organism, very important members of the 
body too. They represent devotion through 
service. Indeed, devotion is the training 
which each caste passes through while fulfill- 
ing the duties of its profession. The Brah- 
mans are to practise meditation on God and 
study the Veda; the object is devotion to the 
Supreme Being. The Kshatriyas are to rule 
the other two castes with the aid of the Brah- 
mans, with love, justice and fatherly care ac- 
cording to inspired laws; the object is to ac- 
quire devotion to the Supreme Being. The 
Vaishyas are to till the land and raise cattle 

116 



THE CASTE SYSTEM. 

only to serve God's creatures; the object is to 
cultivate devotion to the Supreme Being 
thereby. The Sudras must serve the three 
pure and spiritual upper castes for the purpose 
of absorbing their spiritual magnetism through 
association and examples; the object is the 
same, cultivating devotion to the Supreme 
Being by loving service rendered to His de- 
votees. 

Thus the Caste system, though worked by 
human agency, is founded upon natural laws. 
As originally created in the Silver Age, its 
object is to form people into groups accord- 
ing to the similarity of their natural casts of 
mind, according to their natural instincts and 
dispositions, with the view of uniting them by 
the bonds of their common as well as mutual 
interests, with the view of helping them to 
material, moral and spiritual elevation by com- 
pelling them to discharge their respective 
duties according to the injunctions of inspired 
codes of laws furnished by illumined Sages 
whose very pure, unselfish, spiritual and self- 
sacrificing life is the best guarantee of the wis- 
dom, efficacy and usefulness of their advices 

117 



SREE KRISHNA. 

and teachings. The relation of interdepend- 
ence which these caste laws consolidate is in 
itself one of the grandest achievements of the 
caste system for the good of the human family. 
It is the most practical means of preserving 
unity and a natural preventive of the disin- 
tegration of the whole mass of humanity into 
individual units than which no greater calamity 
can happen to the general as well as individual 
weal of human beings. Yet, alas, among non- 
caste races this is happening, especially in the 
Western countries of the world, at the present 
time! 

Look at the state of the human society at 
this moment, particularly that portion of it 
which is governed by the ideas of what is boast- 
fully called "civilization" ! Look at the ex- 
ternal results of the internal influence of 
this civilization ! Material comfort and pleas- 
ure has become the very ideal of life for its 
average votary. All, almost all are ever rush- 
ing on the path of securing the means for that 
one end. And in that mad rush they are jost- 
ling, hustling, hating, abusing, cheating, killing 
and destroying one another physically and 

118 



THE CASTE SYSTEM. 

morally. In that mad rush for that one goal, 
in that selfish fight and quarrel, out of the ex- 
haustion brought on by the efforts of that 
bustling and hustling, they have no time or 
opportunity or inclination to think of anything 
which has no immediate concern with that 
utterly material aim of life. They have no 
time to think of their mind, much less of their 
soul, which most of them have abolished as 
a delusion and an obstacle in the way of ma- 
terial success. They have even no time to 
look up into the blue heavens during night or 
during day, to look at the beauties of the stars 
and the moon, much less to think of what they 
are and if they have any relation with them. 
Material interests are fast taking the place of 
natural love and affection. Husbands and 
wives are fighting with each other; sons and 
daughters are ignoring and disobeying their 
parents; masters and servants have no other 
regard for each other than that inspired by 
personal gain ; they are always trying to cheat 
instead of helping each other. Members of 
communities are divided against each other 
and only seemingly united for the sake of 

119 



SREE KRISHNA. 

selfish ends. Society exists only in name. 
Envy, malice, greed, selfishness, conceit having 
gained predominance in all, have split society 
into units. 

This chaotic state of modern human "so- 
ciety" in most parts of the world, the truth of 
which will be generally acknowledged, ought 
to convince all thoughtful people as to the 
wisdom and vital necessity of the caste system. 
Even now where the four-caste system still 
exists, it does serve to keep the communities 
within its rule as one compact body 
to a great extent, through the influence 
of its laws of interdependence and mutual 
harmonious relations. Thanks to Caste, 
even the degenerating Hindoos of to-day 
have not yet been split into units. This 
remnant race, a race which has still retained 
some of the instincts of the original human 
family of the Silver Age, is being more 
and more divided and subdivided, no doubt, 
at the present day. But these divisions and 
subdivisions are large coherent parts, linked 
together into one great whole. The entire race 
is divided into four castes ; the castes are divid- 

120 



THE CASTE SYSTEM. 

ed into sub-castes, the sub-castes again into 
communities, the communities into rural so- 
cieties, the rural societies into large patriarchal 
joint-families. The members of families are 
ruled by the patriarchs, the patriarchs by the 
headmen of caste communities, the caste 
communities by the spiritual (Brahman) 
guides, through the enforcement of the salu- 
tary Scriptural injunctions, the infringement 
of which is punished, in minor cases, by ex- 
piations involving physical hardships and spir- 
itual austerities and purifying ceremonies, and, 
in serious cases, by expulsion from caste, 
which, in India, is a greater disaster than 
natural or material calamities. And all these 
rulers and ruled are related to one another by 
more or less natural love and affection or re- 
spect and sense of duty born in their blood 
through thousands of generations of heredi- 
tary habits of thought and life ; all are inspired 
to command and obey by the spirit of the 
Veda which their mind absorbs through the 
performance of their respective spiritual, social, 
physical duties as enjoined by the later Script- 
ures—the Shastras, which are modified em- 

121 



SKEE KRISHNA, 

bodiments of the revealed laws of the Basic 
Spirit of All Life, the all-cementing Spirit of 
Nature — Love. 



123 



SECTION VIII. 

THE FOUR STAGES OF LIFE. 

Simultaneously with the introduction of the 
Caste System in the Silver Age are instituted 
the Four Stages of Life, the object of which 
is to help the lower state of human conscious- 
ness to gradually attain to the highest spiritual 
realization. They are graduated processes of 
mental and physical application and discipline 
by the practice of which individuals are to 
recover the absolute illumination, being and 
bliss enjoyed by all human souls in the Golden 
Age. They impart a scientfic training to the 
human mind in order to enable it to subdue its 
Rajasic (active) and Tamasic (darkening) 
attributes by developing the Sattwic (illumi- 
nating) attribute through concentration upon 
the Basic Principles of Life — the Centre and 
Essence of Absolute Purity and Illumination. 
The first stage is called Brahmacharjya or 
Spiritual Pupilage. The second stage is called 
Grihastha or Householdership. The third 

123 



SREE KRISHNA. 

stage is called Vanaprastha or Asceticism. The 
fourth stage is called the Bhikshu or Wander- 
ing Friarship. The first, third and fourth 
stages are enjoined for the three twice-born 
castes and the third and fourth are open even 
to a Sudra if he is found worthy of adopting 
them. The Brahman, Kshatriya and Vaishya 
are called twice-born; the first birth is the 
physical birth, the second is the spiritual birth 
through the investiture of the holy thread 
from w r hich begins the performance of daily 
spiritual duties and practices. 

The first stage of life begins, soon after this 
spiritual initiation, at the age of twelve, when 
the boy goes to reside with the Gooroo (spir- 
itual guide) for studying the Veda and for 
undergoing spiritual, mental and physical dis- 
cipline. The Gooroo is an illuminated Brah- 
man sage whose love and affection for the 
pupils in his charge and anxious care and 
efforts for the unfoldment of their souls are 
not equalled by those of even their parents. 
He feeds, clothes and lodges them in his own 
abode free of any charge or consideration 
whatever. His one thought and concern is 

124 



THE FOUR STAGES OF LIFE. 

to help them to realize the Truth, to be freed 
from the bondage of matter and thus enter the 
Absolute Realm of Eternal Love and Happi- 
ness. 

While every student has to perform the same 
regular spiritual rites and pratices and to say 
the prayers daily after physical purification, 
the method of training adopted by the Gooroo 
for developing their soul is not the same in 
each case. To some he explains the truths 
of the Veda and asks them to meditate on their 
meanings. Others, who show natural instincts 
of devotion, he trains into practical realiza- 
tion of the same truths without teaching them 
a single word of the Veda. 

The chief method of a Gooroo's teaching 
is to draw the student's mind away from 
worldly attractions and turn the direction of 
the mind's vision inwards into the soul. De- 
votion is the principal aim, for devotion means 
concentration and when that concentration 
is fixed upon the contemplation of the Essence 
of things which pervades them all and yet 
is unmixed with the outer substance and at- 
tributes of their manifested forms, the mind 

125 



SREE KRISHNA. 

absorbs the perfect purity of that Essence and 
is filled with the serenity and the inexpressible 
joy born of absolute freedom from the in- 
fluence of matter. 

If the student obtains this practical realiza- 
tion of the Essence of Existence, he remains 
for the rest of his life in this stage of spiritual 
pupilage. But he is no more a pupil; he be- 
comes a teacher of pupils — a Gooroo. It is 
this practical realization that invests a student 
of wisdom with the magnetic power of awaken- 
ing that realization in others. 

A spiritual student's training is essentially 
based upon a life of purest mental and physical 
chastity; the student is not allowed by the 
teacher to mix or talk with worldly men or to 
discuss temporal subjects among themselves. 
When the practical realization of the Truth is 
attained, life's one object is attained. If, how- 
ever, after staying and studying with the Goo- 
roo for twelve years, the student fails to have 
this practical grasp of the soul of wisdom, he 
leaves the Gooroo and with his permission 
returns to his family, takes unto himself a 
good-tempered, virtuous and spiritually-in- 

126 



THE FOUR STAGES OF LIFE, 

clined wife and enters into the life of a house- 
holder But the principal object of this 
second stage of life is the same as in the 
first — realization of the Truth. The practice 
for physical and mental purity is continued, 
the Veda is studied daily, diligently and de- 
votedly, and the meanings of its truths and 
principles contemplated with calmness and con- 
centration, comparing their lessons in the light 
of the experiences of worldly life. The obliga- 
tions of household life are greater than those 
of pupilage. Life must be sustained on simple 
and sparing meals ; the means of living must 
be honestly earned, the hungry or needy beggar 
must be satisfied according to means and abil- 
ity; the pleasures and comforts of household 
existence must be enjoyed moderately and with 
discrimination; parents, wife, members of the 
family, poor relatives and dependents and de- 
voted servants must be supported, loved and 
made happy. All legitimate wishes and wants 
of the wife must be satisfied, she must be cher- 
ished with affection and respect and regarded 
as the presiding deity of household harmony. 
If during this household life the truth is 

127 



SREE KRISHNA. 

realized, the householder remains at home dur- 
ing the rest of his earthly days ; he has no need 
to go into the third stage of life, for, as I have 
said, realization of the Truth is the end and 
aim of life in all its stages. If, however, this 
main object is not obtained, the householder, 
after twenty-four years of family life, must 
enter the third stage, that of the ascetic. He 
must leave his home with his wife and retire 
from worldly life and interests and live in 
some secluded forest place near his home and 
practise austerities, physical and mental, in 
order to purge the mind of all its material 
inclinations for a period of twelve years. If 
during that time the realization is obtained, he 
remains in that stage for the rest of his life, 
imparting the realized knowledge and wisdom 
to all who may come to him. 

If, however, he fails in his search for it, even 
in this ascetic stage, he returns to his home 
with his wife, and if he has a son to protect 
and support her, he leaves his home and family, 
with the permission of his parents and his wife, 
and enters into the fourth stage, that of the 
holy wanderer, to tread the path to Freedom 

128 



THE FOUR STAGES OF LIFE. 

and Truth all alone, sundering all ties of 
worldly life and surrendering himself — body, 
mind and soul — to that search. He must not 
occupy his mind with any other but that one 
thought; he must live on one simple, spare 
meal a day, enough to sufficiently satisfy his 
hunger; he must dress himself in scant saf- 
fron-colored clothes, the color of Love and 
Wisdom. He must ever be wandering, never 
entering a human home, and rest under trees ; 
but must not sleep under one tree or on the 
same spot or place for three successive nights, 
never talk with people on any other subject 
than that of his search, and discuss it with 
humble spirit of inquiry with illuminated 
sages he comes across on his journeyings. 

This all-absorbing meditation does help to 
awaken in him at last the light of the Truth, 
and blessed with that light he is filled with joy 
and feels himself the happiest mortal, in touch 
and tune with the purest spirit of the Universe, 
the Infinity which is the parent of the Finite, 
With the first flush of this realization he 
changes the color of his clothes from saffron 
to white, the color of Illumination (Sattwa), 

129 



SREE KRISHNA. 

and as he wanders still, in the ecstasy of the 
bliss of Truth within his soul, gradually the 
objective phenomena around him seem unsub- 
stantial and finally grow dim and shadowy, 
while the realized spirit in which his mind lives 
immersed, he perceives to be the only substance 
of those shadows. Then, as he roams along, 
laughing and sporting like a little boy in the 
fulness of the glee within, he becomes in time 
almost unconscious of anything outside of his 
soul. His very sight is a blessing to all be- 
holders, a blessing which fills them tempo- 
rarily with the delight of his intoxication. He 
has no count of time or notion of the phases 
of time — whether it is morning, noon or night. 
He lives henceforth in Infinity and views all 
Nature as dwelling within him and anon views 
himself as a wavelet in the infinite ocean of its 
Essence. He does not feel any hunger, for 
with the satisfaction of his spiritual hunger 
all hunger has been satisfied forever. He is 
the embodiment of ecstasy, uncovered ecstasy, 
and even his physical cover, the white cloth, 
has fallen from his body. He stands naked 
as naked Nature's most natural man. He is 

130 



THE FOUR STAGES OF LIFE. 

clothed with the illumination of his soul, like 
the Golden Age man. 



131 



SECTION IX. 

THE COPPER AGE. 

The Divine Cycle of time can be likened to 
a fruit. Like the ripening and rottening of 
a fruit, the Divine Cycle develops and degener- 
ates into rottenness. The Golden Age is its 
ripening stage. At the end of that &ge, it is 
fully ripe. The Silver Age is its overripe 
stage. The Copper Age marks the stage of its 
rottenness and the Iron Age is its fully rotten 
stage. At the end of the Iron Age, it is re- 
duced to its seed out of which springs the 
sprout of the Golden Age. And during the 
junction period of the Golden Age, covering 
144,000 human years, the sprout grows into a 
flowering tree which bears fruit with the com- 
mencement of the Golden Age proper. 

The length of the Copper Age is 2,000 
divine years, equal to 720,000 human years, 
while its Twilight periods are 72,000 years 
each. Men in this age are seven cubits or ten 
and a half feet high. Virtue lives in it in two 

132 



THE COPPER AGE. 

quarters, the other two being filled by vice. 
Vitality is rooted in the blood; men live as 
long as there is blood in their body. Gold and 
silver having become dearer the metal gener- 
ally used in making household utensils is cop- 
per which is found abundantly, whence the age 
derives its name. The intensity of accelerated 
Raja within Nature helps the assertion of 
Tama in all her manifest phases, although 
Sattwa still has some influence. The trees 
become less in height, less fruitful and the 
fruits less sweet; crops less abundant despite 
the best efforts of cultivation. Cows give less 
milk than in the Silver Age, while wild animals 
become more ferocious. Most animals can 
speak in the Silver Age, but now only some 
of them, the higher ones, are blessed with that 
power during the major portion of it. 

People in the Copper Age become more and 
more outward-looking generally, especially the 
Sudras, some of whom having become filled 
with dense Tama, revolt against all laws and 
discipline and turn into thieves and robbers. 
These latter are expelled from their caste and 
banished out of civilized centres of population 

133 



SREE KRISHNA. 

the world over by the kings. They are called 
by the common name of robbers and specific 
names of Yavans and Mlechhas which means 
men who are wild, barbarous and unclean 
by nature and habits. These Yavans and 
Mlechhas come into existence towards the end 
of the Silver Age and rapidly increase in num- 
ber during the Dwapar (Copper Age), towards 
the end of which they form the majority of the 
world's population and are known by different 
names according to the localities of their habi- 
tation, different shades of their dark attributes, 
and the callings they pursue : Yavan, Kirat 
(hunters), Gandhar, Cheen (Chinese), Shabar, 
Barbar (barbarian), Shak, Tungar, Kanka, 
Palhab, Ramat and Kambhoj. The kings in 
the Copper Age have a hard time to protect 
their subjects and their territories from the 
depredations of these wild characters and rob- 
bers. The king's first duty is to preserve 
peace in his kingdom so that his subjects may 
not be disturbed in the performance of their 
religious duties, may apply themselves to the 
study of the Veda and the contemplation of the 
Supreme Deity and tread the path of virtue 
without annoyance. 

134 



THE COPPER AGE. 

The king's chief duty being to insure the 
material welfare of his subjects with the sole 
view of helping their spiritual welfare, the 
punishment for the infringement of caste and 
religious rules is made severe and swiftly ad- 
ministered. At the same time the spirit of the 
times is taken into consideration and many 
rigid rules are relaxed and minor faults are 
pardoned. The four castes are subdivided into 
sub-castes according to the different callings 
that the Vaishyas and Sudras show preference 
in their inclinations to follow. Those who take 
to agriculture are classed as cultivators, those 
who rear cattle and sell milk and butter are 
called milkmen, while those who take to trade 
and commerce are called traders and merchants 
and so on. All these form into different sub- 
castes under the general caste of Vaishya. 
Similarly the Sudras are subdivided according 
to their respective callings; viz., blacksmiths, 
potters, carpenters, masons, etc., all under the 
general caste of Sudra. The chief object of 
these sub-castes is to save human society from 
disintegration as much as possible, to preserve 
the masses of men in as large coherent sec- 

135 



SREE KRISHNA. 

tions as practicable linked to one another 
through spiritual, moral and material relations. 
Another, and almost equally important, ob- 
ject of the caste and sub-caste systems in the 
Copper Age is to conserve the heredity of 
their different intellectualities, talents, healthy 
characteristics, and instincts. This becomes all 
the more necessary owing to the fact that it 
is in the Dwapar Yuga that husbands and 
wives begin to have carnal relations. During 
the Golden Age and the greater portion of the 
Silver Age all men and women are, what 
Christians call, virgin-born. The fuss that is 
made about this immaculate conception suc- 
ceeds only to excite a smile of pity in the 
Shastra-enlightened Hindoo — a smile of pity 
for the ignorance of the facts in the past his- 
tory of the human race of which they seem 
to know so little and care less to know more. 
This fact about the Golden and Silver Ages, 
this generally prevailing immaculate child- 
conception, ought to open their eyes. If they 
require any authority for this statement, I 
refer them to the stuly of the Shanti Parva of 
the Mahabharata. 

136 



THE COPPER AGE. 

The Yoga-power of the Golden Age men 
draw disembodied souls from the Bhuba 
sphere and spiritual souls from higher spheres 
to enter into a woman's womb and be born on 
the earth plane. The will-force of these men 
supplies these incoming souls with the mate- 
rial of a physical body. In the Silver Age the 
higher illuminated Brahmans and Saints can 
bring about conception in the same way, while 
others bring it about by making the women eat 
magnetized "charoo," which not only draws 
these spirits to the womb, but supplies the 
material for the physical body. In the Copper 
Age, however, the decrease of spirituality takes 
away the power, and so the material of the 
physical body has to be supplied by the physi- 
cal vigor of the father and the blood of the 
mother to enable a disembodied spirit to enter 
the womb and grow into a child. 

This degenerated process of procreation 
coming into vogue in the Copper Age renders 
it necessary to fuse higher magnetism into 
the lower castes, as well as to preserve the 
magnetism of each caste from deterioration. 
The means adopted for securing these ends is 
137 



SREE KRISHNA. 

to allow the two higher castes men to marry 
girls of the lower castes, and towards the lat- 
ter end of the Copper Age even Vaishyas are 
permitted to marry Sudra girls. The lower 
caste men, however, are never allowed to 
marry higher caste women, as it degenerates 
the breed, the seed being a far more potent 
factor in producing excellence of growth than 
the soil. The offsprings of these intermar- 
riages form into castes distinct from those of 
their fathers and mothers, lower than their 
father's and higher than their mother's. 

In order to preserve the magnetism and the 
hereditary talent and instincts from deteriorat- 
ing, the castes are divided into sub-castes ac- 
cording to their general proclivities and pro- 
fessions joi livelihood. Each sub-caste must 
marry within its own circle, and must eat food 
cooked by the hands of its own members. 
Heredity is now being believed in by the mate- 
realistic people of the modern world, and when 
that belief in heredity will have grown stronger 
in their minds, they will then take practical 
measures to preserve the good qualities of 
heredity from being spoilt by coming in con- 

138 



THE COPPER AGE. 

tact with the bad magnetism of its lower traits. 

This human magnetism is a subject which is 
worthy of the study of modern scientists. If 
they can find out what it is, ascertain its prop- 
erties, power for good and evil, and how good 
magnetism can be conserved and transmitted 
and how bad magnetism can be purified, they 
will do humanity greater good than they have 
done by the discovery of steam and electricity, 
which, judged from the standpoint of the high- 
est good, ought to be considered as very 
doubtful boons. Magnetism is not useful mag- 
netism if it is purely physical. It is not worth 
preserving, it is injurious, and its contact 
ought to be avoided. 

It is spiritual magnetism which is worth 
preserving. It is spirituality which is the 
medium which transmits good heredity from 
parent to progeny. The mind is the storehouse 
and battery of all human magnetism. The 
vibrations of the mind pervade every atom 
of the body and the mind's vibrations are 
generated by its principal and most powerful 
thoughts and sentiments. These vibrations 
are the essence of these thoughts and senti- 

139 



SREE KRISHNA. 

ments, and magnetism is that subtle essence 
impregnated with the potencies of the mind 
mixed with the subtle forces of the physical 
body. 

Marrying, cooking and eating within the 
caste helps to conserve in the individual mem- 
bers thereof the spiritual and mental mag- 
netism, generated by the performances of the 
religious duties and ceremonies and spiritual 
incantations which form the daily routine of 
household life enjoined by the Scriptures. 

Thus wisdom, talent, traits, instincts are all 
ingrained in and transmitted through the blood 
from generation to generation of each caste. 
The caste is like a university, each home a 
school, and the instincts and talents, brought 
into being with the birth of each member, are 
the implanted principles of the knowledge of 
each profession of which it is the caste. A 
carpenter's caste is a guild for carpentry, a 
carpenter's home is a technical school for car- 
pentry where the natural talent and love for the 
art are partly imbibed by the instincts of hered- 
ity and partly by observation which is the best 
system of training. 

140 



THE COPPER AGE. 

With these tendencies of material arts are 
born in the blood of the child the germs of the 
moral and spiritual culture of the parents. 
These germs shoot forth into healthy growth 
under the fostering care of the child's guard- 
ians, aided by the religious, social and domestic 
duties the growing child has to perform daily. 
The carpenter is as much a useful member of 
the four-caste society as the Brahman. The 
householder Brahman can no more do without 
a carpenter than a carpenter can do without a 
Brahman. But the value of the Brahman's help 
to the carpenter being more important to the 
development of his soul, which is the true aim 
and goal of earthly life, the obligations of the 
other castes to the Brahman are greater and 
deeper than those of the Brahman to the 
Sudra. The question may now be asked, has 
that carpenter no chance of becoming the equal 
of the Brahman through spiritual culture ? Yes 
and no. Yes, because Brahmanhood is nobody's 
monopoly. Brahmanhood is but a state of the 
human mind — the ensouled state of the human 
mind, and anybody who develops this state of 
mind, even though he be encased within a 

141 



SREE KRISHNA. 

Pariah's flesh, lays legitimate claim to Brah- 
manhood. Only he must make that ensouled 
mental state perfect, only he must enter the 
fold of Brahmanhood through the door of 
Nature, through the ingress of Rebirth. The 
maturity of a material or mental condition is 
best known to Nature. A mass of animal flesh, 
lying on the surface of Mother Earth, under- 
goes all the processes of disintegration and 
putrefaction, and when that disintegration is 
complete, Earth assimilates and absorbs it 
again; it becomes a part of her body, it be- 
comes earth itself. What is true of material 
plane of Nature is true as well of her mental 
and spiritual planes. When a carpenter has 
developed full Brahman consciousness, Na- 
ture opens to him wide the portals of the 
spiritual caste which had looked down upon 
him in his carpenter birth. Even in his car- 
penter birth, he does not go unrewarded. The 
case of the carpenter Rishi, called Suta, is a 
luminous instance in point. His spiritual cul- 
ture was so great that the highest illuminated 
sages (Rishis) learned from him the lessons 
of the Puranas which he preached to them, 
143 



THE COPPER AGE. 

sitting on a raised platform with their rev- 
erential permission. He was considered a 
knower of Brahm and so enjoyed the respect 
paid to the highest spiritual beings. A Sudra 
may not become a Brahman, but may become 
through practical spiritual culture a higher 
being than a Brahman even in his Sudra birth, 
and be born into a highly spiritual Brahman 
family, by sheer dint of merit, the merit of de- 
veloping spiritual consciousness — in the next 
birth. Similarly a Brahman, born in the high- 
est family of his clan, will, by developing Pa- 
riah qualities, be outclassed in his Brahman 
birth and enter through the door of Nature 
into a Pariah family in a subsequent birth. 

The above facts and truths are known to a 
child even of every caste. Even a child knows, 
either in the Copper Age or to-day among the 
four-caste people, that a caste-birth is depend- 
ent upon Karma (actions). A Sudra, there- 
fore, takes the very fact of his birth as suffi- 
cient reason for his being placed in the low- 
est caste. He is reconciled to his fate, a fate 
big with the potentialities of his actions in 
previous existences. And the little gloom of 

143 



SREE KRISHNA. 

sadness that his lowly station of life casts upon 
his mind is illumined now and again by the 
silver lining of the consolation that it is in his 
power, if he so wills it, to be a high Brah- 
man in the next incarnation, if he succeeds in 
developing his higher soul-consciousness. 

The Veda in the Copper Age has for the 
first time to be studied and its truths practised 
in two parts — the philosophical and the cere- 
monial parts. Men generally are degenerated 
so much in this age that they can no longer 
grasp the truths of the Upanishads without 
first purifying their body and through the puri- 
fied body the mind. The Vedas are divided 
into Upanishads (Eternal Spiritual Truths) 
and the Mantras (incantations, hymns and 
ceremonies, the practice of which cleanses the 
impurities of the mind and body). In the 
Dwapar Yuga, therefore, the performance of 
the ceremonials of the Veda is much in vogue. 
When the body and mind are purified, they are 
made fit for grasping the meanings of the 
higher philosophy of life and become recep- 
tive to the influences of the subtlest spiritual 
vibrations. 

144 



SECTION X. 

THE IRON AGE. 

But even these attempts and safeguards for 
keeping up the higher individuality of the 
human race fail to retard the course of the de- 
generation which Nature herself undergoes in 
the process of time. The fruit of Divine Cycle, 
spoken of in the beginning of the last Section, 
reaches an advanced stage of rottenness which 
marks the commencement of the Twilight Pe- 
riod of the Kali, called also Tamas or the Dark 
Age. The characteristics of Kali are symp- 
toms of Nature filled with denser gloom than 
heretofore. 

The usual Kali, the last section of every 
Divine Cycle, is much more dense with Tama 
(darkness) than the one in which we are living 
now. The reason is that at the junction of the 
last Dwapar and the present Kali, the fullest 
incarnation of the Supreme Deity, Sri Krishna 
himself, came on earth to dwell among men 
for a period of a hundred years. This Avatar 
and source of all Avatars, this central Form- 

145 



SREE KRISHNA. 

Point of All-Pervading Brahm, this Embodi- 
ment of Para-Brahm, is gracious enough to 
come and dwell among men on earth only once 
in 71 Divine cycles. We, the degenerated 
mortals of this Dark Age, are more fortunate 
than even humanity of many a Golden or Silver 
Age. The Supreme Lord sanctifies the soil of 
the earth-plane of every universe with the all- 
purifying touch of His Lotus-Feet by turns, 
The countless universes that spring out of 
Him and return in germ-form again into 
Him have the grace of His personal touch and 
supervision at appointed times. When Krish- 
na comes to live in any of the universes, Na- 
ture therein is turned inside out, so that the 
inmost essence of it may flow over its surface 
and wash ofif all the causes of pollution. It 
has been recorded by the contemporary sages 
of Krishna-Leela, the all-knowing sages who 
came down to earth from higher planes to 
act as scribes of the Lord's deeds, that by the 
coming of Krishna not only the 36,000 years, 
forming the junction period of Kali, was de- 
stroyed, but also almost half of the age of 
Kali proper, while the Lord's Rash-Dance 
146 



THE IRON AGE. 

with the Gopis absorbed a whole Kalpa cov- 
ering 36,000 Divine cycles out of the age of 
Brahma. 

The age of Brahma is the age of the uni- 
verse, that is to say, the age of Brahma is 
equal to the duration of creation. Brahma 
lives for 100 Brahmic years and one Brahmic 
year is made up of 360 Brahmic days. One 
day of Brahma is equal to one Kalpa, so is his 
night. A Kalpa is equal to 12,000,000 divine 
years. One night of Brahma covers the same 
period of time so that one day and one night 
of Brahma covers 24,000,000 divine years. 
Multiplying these figures by 360 we get 8,640,- 
000,000 divine years, which is the span of one 
year of Brahma. Multiplying these figures by 
100 we get the span of Brahma's age, 864,- 
000,000,000 divine years, which being multi- 
plied by 360 we get 311,040,000,000,000 human 
(lunar) years, the age of Brahma, the dura- 
tion of creation. 

Thus the night of the Rash-Dance not only 
absorbed one Kalpa equal to 4,320,000,000 
lunar years out of the duration of creation, but 
also 36,000 years which form the junction of 

147 



SREE KRISHNA, 

Dwapar and Kali, as also about half the span 
of the Kali proper. About this last there is 
no authoritative statement in the Shastras, but 
it has been stated therein that when Krishna 
left the earth and went up to His Abode, the 
forces of "advanced Kali" overtook humanity. 
Now, according to the Hindoo almanacs, about 
5,000 years only have passed since Krishna's 
departure, which would mean that it is now but 
the beginning of Kali proper, the span of 
which is 360,000 years. But the signs and 
symptoms of the times already visible are un- 
mistakably of the middle Kali, detailed de- 
scriptive features of which are to be found in 
the Mahabharata as also in all the Puranas. 
This being so, it is not a wrong supposition 
that we are already in the middle Kali and 
that Krishna-Leela has also taken away half the 
age of Kali proper. 

Nor is it necessary that the Kali has to pass 
through the conventional figures of its dura- 
tion given in the Shastras. What is true of 
individual humanity is true also of the whole 
mass of humanity which represents Kali. Kali 
is nothing else but the forms of Nature's 
148 



THE IRON AGE. 

changes of the latter end of a Divine cycle. 
We, men and beasts and trees and grass, pro- 
ductions of Nature, represent the phases and 
features of Kali. Dense Tama working with- 
in Nature brings out the characteristics of 
this dark age to the surface of the earth. Man 
being the most highly organized product and 
the most powerful medium of her attributes, 
the thoughts and actions of men are most af- 
fected by it. The dark thoughts and actions, 
called sin in common parlance of humanity, 
form the sins of Kali which represents the 
spirit of human conduct and characteristics 
in the Dark Age. We see that people, who are 
naturally healthy and robust, shorten their 
longevity by over-indulging in vice. Thus a 
life of vice or sin, that is, life lived in violation 
of Nature's laws, begets diseases of the body 
which bring about early destruction. A man 
for instance, who, according to his natural state 
of health, ought to live for one hundred years, 
is often found to die at the age of thirty, a 
victim of dissipated life. This rule applies to 
Kali. All our accumulated sins form Kali's 
sins. And these accumulated sins are beget- 

149 



SREE KRISHNA, 

ting diseases in the body and mind of human- 
ity from which Kali must die an early death. 

This Kali, therefore, with its rapidly increas- 
ing accumulation of sin, may come to an end 
in less than 10,000 years, its conventional 
period of existence, 360,000 years, being con- 
densed into that short space of time. Judging 
from the signs of an advanced state of rotten- 
ness, already developed, it would seem as if 
the worst features which hasten its end may 
manifest themselves in less than a few hun- 
dred years. But, like wheels within wheels, 
the Satya, Treta and Dwapar cycles have their 
sway through its duration by turns. By this 
I mean that during the course of Kali (Iron 
Age) features and characteristics of the 
Golden, Silver and Copper Ages manifest 
themselves by turns all through it. Indeed, the 
spirit and attributes of these four cycles weigh 
the moral and physical atmosphere of each 
day and night. Supposing the average day 
begin at 6 A. m., the influence and the attri- 
butes of the Golden Age prevail from 6 a. m. 
to 3.36 p. m. ; those of the Silver Age prevail 
from 3.36 p. M. to 10.48 p. M. ; those of the 

150 



THE IRON AGE. 

Copper Age from 10.48 p. m. to 3.36 a. m., 
and those of the Iron Age from 3.36 a. m. to 
6 a. M. Illumination and comparative calm- 
ness dwell within and without us from morning 
up to high noon owing to the predominance of 
Sattwa, the predominant attribute of the 
Golden Age. From noon activity (Raja) as- 
serts itself, and by about 3 o'clock in the after- 
noon it gains full force when light (inside and 
out of us) is on the decline and calmness is 
disturbed, introducing the influence of the Sil- 
ver Age, which lasts until about 11 at night, 
when Tama (Darkness) begins its reign and, 
combined with Raja, holds the rule of the 
Copper Age. The signs of Tama are lazi- 
ness, inaction, sleep, etc. We begin to experi- 
ence these from 11 o'clock at night and until 
three in the morning slumber and gloom en- 
velop us and Nature. But sleep and darkness 
are deepest from three to five in the morning. 
These hours are ruled by Kali, the Dark Age. 

Thus cycles revolve within cycles as they 
revolve even within the smallest cycle, called 
Day. Throughout the Iron Age, the condi- 
tions of the first three cycles prevail one after 

151 



SREE KRISHNA, 

the other, and when this influence of the 
Copper Age conditions in the Kali Age spends 
itself, conditions of darker Kali prevail for a 
time: Then again signs are visible of Golden 
Age influence and after a time degenerate into 
Silver Age phases, then into Copper Age 
mixed light, then again into the deep gloom of 
Kali within Kali, and so on. As Kali advances 
more and more the successive, rotatory influ- 
ences of the other three cycles become feebler 
and feebler, and at last under the deepest 
gloom of Kali gaining fullest power, their in- 
fluences are kept down absolutely. Here be- 
gins the end of the Kali period. Soon after 
the signs of the coming Golden Age are visible. 
These ever recurring conditions of the Golden 
and Silver Ages, though feeble in their influ- 
ence, counteract the destructive influences of 
vice and sin and thus help to save the life of 
Kali from coming to an end all too soon. 

The Kali Yuga is called the Iron Age, be- 
cause gold, silver and copper becoming scarcer, 
people use all sorts of mixed metals, but 
chiefly iron, in making household utensils, iron 
being found in great abundance. The average 

152 



THE IRON AGE 

stature of mankind is three and a half cubits 
or 5 feet 9 inches. Virtue is reduced to one- 
quarter, the other three-quarters being made 
up by vice. With the decrease of spirituality 
in every succeeding age, the root of vitality has 
been transferred from marrow to bone, from 
bone to blood. Now, in the Kali that root of 
life is destroyed. Life in this age is generally 
sustained by food alone. The effect of con- 
stant concentration upon changeful, external 
objects rebounds upon the body, causing loss 
of tissue greater than that in the former ages, 
when men still have their minds turned in- 
wards, between whiles, to have a dip in the 
source of All-Life — the soul. 

The Vedas in the Iron Age are no more 
understandable to the people in their original 
sound-embodiments except to a small portion 
of spiritual Brahmans. They are therefore 
presented to the people in general in the form 
of Shastras and Puranas. These embody the 
Vedic truths, principles and ideas in easy con- 
structions and simple language, illustrated by 
examples and stories drawn from facts in life 
of the past ages. The Shastras are, therefore, 

153 



SREE KRISHNA. 

nothing but the Vedas, simplified, explained 
and illustrated, with the object of enabling the 
deteriorated intellect of the Iron Age man to 
grasp the light and the spirit of the Store- 
house of Revealed Wisdom. The ceremonial 
parts of the Vedas are likewise modified and 
rendered easier for practice in the form of 
Smritis (forms of spiritual duties and sacri- 
fices) the daily performance of which is en- 
joined upon the four-caste people. 

Yet for all that, despite all these strenuous 
efforts of the small spiritual portion of the 
people to save the souls of their brethren from 
succumbing to the dark forces of the age and 
the allurements of a material life of undisci- 
plined liberty and license, human society falls 
into a mental and material state of chaos, typi- 
cal of the stage of complete rottenness of a 
fruit. As many grains of wheat when ground 
in a mill look like one substance, called flour, 
which means so many separate grains of wheat 
have been divided into such minute parts that 
they appear as one substance ; so, in this most 
advanced stage of decomposition of human so- 
ciety, its various and separate composing parts 

154 



THE IRON AGE. 

and phases — religious, racial and material — 
will be divided into one whole-looking mass 
of separate minute units. People's minds, at 
this latter end of the age, will be so far re- 
moved from the idea and notion of God and 
the soul that the Vedas, the Bible and all 
other religious books and philosophies that are 
now extant will disappear, and even the fact 
that they had at any time existed will be com- 
pletely forgotten. Churches and temples, 
mosques and synagogues will no more be seen 
on the face of the earth, humanity will live for 
life itself — the grossest material life. Each 
individual will differ from the other on all 
imaginable points of view on all subjects. 
Every man and woman will be his or her own 
God or ideal. There will be no sympathy be- 
tween them, each one asserting his or her in- 
dependence over all of his or her fellow crea- 
tures. They will think, act, move, eat, sleep as 
their own wild, wilful dispositions will prompt 
them, causing quarrels and fighting between 
one another. Selfishness and aggression will 
be the keynote of their character. 

The number of Mlechhas and Yavans and 

155 



SREE KRISHNA, 

outcasted people increases out of all proportion 
to the number of the four-caste people who 
may now be called the Root Race of the earth. 
In the process of time- this Root Race of people 
will cling round the centre of the earth to 
save their spiritual instincts, pure ways of 
living, customs and habits from being con- 
taminated by association with the strayed por- 
tion of humanity who now form the greatest- 
majority. As, when in the throes of death, 
through disease, the only visible action of life 
is centered in the heart, while all other parts 
are numb and comparatively lifeless, so with 
the advance of Kali, the spiritual life becomes 
centered in the heart of the earth. This heart 
of the earth is called in the ancient Scriptures 
the Sea-Girt Isle or peninsula, the Belt of the 
Earth's Body — now called India. In this heart 
only of the earth live the original four-caste 
people, while the rest, broken away and di- 
vorced from the parent stock and religion, are 
scattered all over the rest of her body. 

The signs of advanced Kali are already visi- 
ble all over the earth at the present moment, 
nay, even of its most degenerated stage, espe- 

156 



THE IRON AGE. 

daily in the West — signs and symptoms which 
are manifesting themselves here and there even 
in men of the Root Race. What a horrid state 
of affairs the closing period of Kali will bring 
about may be judged from the prophesies made 
five thousand years ago by the illuminated 
sages of this Root Race, prophesies which are 
correct in startling exactitude and some of 
which are on all fours with the signs and char- 
acteristics of our present period, as will be 
seen from a few extracts from them given 
below. 

The conditions of the different stages of 
Kali have been described in all the eighteen 
Puranas, and the Mahabharata which embody 
the history of the human race from creation to 
destruction — the past, present and future 
phases of human society of all times and of all 
climes. The following few details translated 
from a minute description of the early, mid- 
dle and final stages of the Kali, given by the 
Sage Markandeya, in reply to questions put in 
regard to Kali by King Yudhisthira in an 
assemblage of saints, kings and nobles, inspired 
by incarnated Krishna, who was present in per- 

157 



SREE KRISHNA, 

son, will be of interest to most of my readers : 
Raja Yudhisthira, Emperorer of Bharat- 
varsha, the central of the seven continents of 
the ancient world (now known as all the 
world), during his sojourn among the Rishis 
(saints) of Kamyak Forest, with a view to 
ascertain the future state of the world, asked 
the immortal saint (Brahmarshi) Markandeya, 
"Holy one ! After having heard your wonder- 
ful accounts of the creation and the destruc- 
tion of the universe, we have become anxious 
to hear about Kali Yuga, and we beg you to 
describe this age in detail to* us. What results 
will be produced by the destruction of the Root 
Religion? What will the valor, strength, food, 
behavior, costume and longevity of the human 
race be like? And how long after will 
commence the Satya Yuga (Golden Age) 
again ?" 

Saint Markandeya answered : "O King ! In 
the Satya Yuga, virtue being void of the least 
touch of greed, deception and other evil quali- 
ties of the mind, was like a full four-footed 
bull. In the Treta, it lost one and in the 
Dwapar two feet. In the Dark Age it will bo 

158 



THE IRON AGE. 

only one-footed, the other three feet being 
destroyed by vice. 

"The longevity, heroism, intelligence, 
strength and mind-force of mankind are grad- 
ually decreasing age by age; they will de- 
crease still more in the Kali. The Kings, 
Brahmans, Vaishyas and Sudras will practice 
false piety, and this false piety will be turned 
into a means for cheating others. Love of 
truth will decline in men ; decline in love of 
truth will cause shortness of life ; shortness of 
life will prevent the proper cultivation of wis- 
dom. Little wisdom will beget ignorance, ig- 
norance will beget greed, greed anger, anger 
delusion. And swayed by greed, anger, delu- 
sion and sensuality, they will be envious of and 
antagonistic to each other. 

"The twice-born castes will become void of 
truth and holy meditation. The mean Chan- 
dais (pariahs) will behave like Kshatriyas and 
Kshatriyas will imitate the ways of the Chan- 
dais. Husbands will become extremely hen- 
pecked; feed upon fish, flesh and milk 
of goat and sheep. Man will aggress upon 
man and develop an irreligious, atheistic and 
thievish nature. 

159 



SREE KRISHNA. 

"People will not discriminate about the eat- 
ableness or uneatableness of any food. Brah- 
mans will cease performing spiritual practices, 
will denounce the Vedas, and being deluded 
by false discussion give up holy ceremonials 
and engage themselves in mean actions. Father 
and son will feel no compunction in killing 
each other, but will rather feel delighted at 
the deed and call it an act of God. 

"The whole world will become Mlechha (un- 
clean and barbarous) void of religious per- 
formances and ceremonials, gladness and fes- 
tivities. Almost all people will be miserly, 
defame their friends and defraud and steal 
the money of poor unprotected widows. They 
will possess little strength and no energy, yet 
be greedy and filled with material, sensual at- 
tachments ; will gladly listen to the advices of 
well-known bad persons and accept charity 
by false pretences. 

"Conceited yet illiterate kings will challenge 
one another to fight, will try to kill one anoth- 
er, and will be like thorns in the sides of their 
subjects. Setting at naught their duties of pro- 
tecting the people, they will, swayed by greed 

160 



THE IRON AGE. 

and pride, be ever anxious to rob and punish 
them, and, prompted by their cruel heart, they 
will snatch away the property and wives of 
honest and pious men. 

"None will ask a father for his daughter to 
marry, and no father will offer his daughter 
in marriage. The daughters will choose and 
marry their own choice without consulting 
anybody or going through any ceremonials. 

"Brother will cheat brother. Even learned 
persons will lose love of truth and be addicted 
to telling lies ; the old will act like boys, boys 
like old people. Cowards will brag of their 
bravery and brave men will act like cowards. 
All will eat the same kinds of food and be 
filled with selfishness and delusion. No one 
will trust another. 

"Brahmans, Kshatriyas and Vaishyas will 
cease to restrain and rule the Sudras or even 
each other. All castes will be levelled and be- 
come one — unclean and barbarous. Fathers 
will not pardon sons, nor sons pardon their 
fathers. Wives will cease from attending upon 
their husbands ; men and women will all be 
self-willed and envious of each other. People 

161 



SREE KRISHNA. 

will not perform any good works or cere- 
monies to satisfy the gods. They will not 
listen to each other; there will be no gooroo 
(teacher) or chela (pupil), all will be filled 
with the darkness of ignorance. At Kali-end, 
their longevity will be sixteen years ; most will 
die immediately after that age is reached. 
Women will give birth to children at the age 
of seven or eight, and, in some cases, even at 
five or six ; men will beget children at the age 
of ten or twelve ; in some cases, even at the age 
of seven or eight. No husband will be satisfied 
with his wife, no wife satisfied with her hus- 
band. They will have very little wealth, and 
even those who will have no wealth whatever 
will wear the false marks of wealth. Envy 
will be predominant in every mind, hunger 
ever burning in every stomach. Cross-roads 
and streets will be thronged by wantons and 
libertines. Women, forsaking shame, will 
bear spite and grudge for their husbands. 
Men will be all of unclean habits, manners and 
customs, eat anything and everything and will 
be terrible in every way and action. They 
will cheat all in buying and selling of goods, 
out of sheer greed. 

162 



THE IRON AGE. 

"None will care to acquire spiritual wisdom, 
yet all will be busied in performing spiritual 
ceremonies for form's sake and be naturally 
addicted to crooked acts. They will show the 
faults of each other. People will live in con- 
stant fear of losing their lives as victims of 
their own greed and envy. The Sudras will 
kill Brahmans and rob them of their property, 
and the Brahmans being thus oppressed will 
cry out in agony and out of fear will roam 
unprotected on the surface of the earth. Some 
of them will take refuge in lonely spots on 
river banks, in mountains and in dangerous 
places to save their lives ; others being 
oppressed by the grinding taxes of unjust 
kings, will lose all patience, and taking to the 
services of Sudras, will perform forbidden acts. 

"The generality of people will become fierce 
and of murderous propensities. The Sudras 
will become spiritual preceptors and Brahmans 
will listen to them, believing their wrong pre- 
cepts to be demonstrated facts. The low will 
be high and the high low; all conditions will 
be reversed. All, all people will forsake God 
and worship Mammon. The Sudras will 

163 



SREE KRISHNA. 

cease from serving Brahmans. The Earth will 
no longer be adorned by the temples of God. 
All mankind will be impious and develop 
frightful characters. Meat will be their food, 
liquor their drink. The one object of life will 
be to increase flesh and blood. The rain- 
clouds towards the close of Kali will pour 
down rains out of season so that, overwhelmed 
by incessant and untimely rain, people will 
subsist on fruit and roots. Pupils will not 
care for the lessons of their teachers, temporal 
or other, and will act against their wishes. 
The poverty-stricken Gooroos (spiritual 
teachers) will curse 'their disciples. There 
will not be the least trace of respect left in the 
world. The relations of friends and kiths and 
kins will depend upon obligations of money. 

"At the close of the cycle flowers will grow 
upon flowers, fruits upon fruits, and, owing 
to the rains not falling in season, there will 
grow but scanty crops, so that famine-stricken 
populations of the earth will cry out in hunger 
and roam upon her surface. Fragrant things 
will lose their odor, sweet juices will lose their 
sweetness, seeds will not germinate properly. 

164 



THE IRON AGE. 

Women will transfer their love from husbands 
to servants. All women, including wives of 
heroes, will prefer somebody else to their hus- 
bands for lovers. Pious men will be in mean 
stations, short-lived and poor; vicious men 
will occupy high positions, have long life and 
prosperity. There will ■ be constant breaking 
out of fires all over the land. Tired and 
hungry wayfarers will ask for food and refuge 
from householders in vain, and out of despair 
rest and sleep upon the road. Crows and other 
birds, snakes and beasts will make unearthly 
noises." 

When Nature and human society will be 
thus revolutionized, reaction will naturally set 
in. When the fruit of Divine Cycle will thus 
reach its extreme stage of rottenness, out of 
its seed will spring forth a shoot which will 
grow into a fresh tree. That tree, in turn, 
will bear fresh fruit — a fresh Divine Cycle. 
In this state of the darkest gloom, faint streaks 
of russet light will be visible which will grow 
bright anon and give birth to the dawn of the 
Golden Age again. 

Reaction is the law of Nature, reaction is 

165 



SREE KRISHNA. 

the result of every phase of action. When vice 
has its full run on the face of the globe, when 
it has reached its lowest depth and wildest 
reign, it spends its force, becomes weakened, 
allowing virtue to lift its head once more and 
build its palace of light upon its ruins. Vice 
is born of Tama, and virtue of Sattwa and 
the active force of both is Raja. Time is the 
self-manifesting kaleidoscopic revolution of 
color-pictures on the transparent canvas of 
ether. After the deepest shades of dark colors 
are exhausted, there is a reaction of lighter 
colors. When Tama has exhausted its force, 
Sattwa asserts itself by natural law. 

This healthy reaction growing stronger will 
gradually evolve some order out of the chaos 
of the closing Kali. A portion of the people 
will get disgusted with the reign of utmost 
licence and inharmony, and, endowed with 
strong mental force to resist the influence of 
the age, will pierce the veil of darkness en- 
veloping everything and see the light that 
dwells within. These will stimulate this re- 
action, and spread the discovered light among 
others groping in the darkness for that light. 

166 



THE IRON AGE. 

The four castes will be gradually established 
once more in some fashion. 

At this stage will be born in the village of 
Sambhalpur in India a Brahman of great 
spiritual force, named Vishnujasha, and in 
time will become the father of the coming In- 
carnation of Vishnoo, one of the most power- 
ful incarnations — Kalki. The Lord Kalki will 
rapidly grow into youth and spiritual power. 
At his mere mental call will come to him 
countless vehicles, armours, all kinds of 
weapons of war and soldiers. He will then 
lead them to battle against all the Mlechhas, 
robbers and tyrants, all over the world, who 
will fall shouting in agony before his mam- 
moth sword. After extirpating them all, the 
Lord will establish once again perfect order 
and harmony on the surface of the earth. After 
ruling the world as Emperor and infusing into 
humanity the spirit of highest spirituality, 
Kalki will make over the charge of the earth 
to the Brahmans and disappear after entering 
a most beautiful forest. 

Here will commence the Junction period of 
the coming Golden Age. During this period, 
167 



SREE KRISHNA. 

covering 144,000 lunar years, all germs of 
vice, crime and sin will be destroyed and men 
will become engaged in spiritual practices and 
ceremonials. The earth will be adorned with 
beautiful forests and gardens, buildings, lakes, 
reservoirs, and temples of God and many are 
the sacred ceremonies that will be constantly 
performed on her surface. Everywhere will be 
visible holy Brahmans, saints and anchorites. 
The four stages of life which before were filled 
with rogues will now be filled by pious, honest 
and truthful men. The deep-rooted bad in- 
stincts and associations will then be driven out 
of the minds of all people. All the crops will 
grow plentifully in their proper seasons. All 
people will be employed in charitable acts, 
religious sacrifices, and in performing spirit- 
ual duties. The Brahmans will again be ab- 
sorbed in holy meditations, satisfied and serene ; 
the Kshatriyas will exhibit their valor; the 
kings rule the world with justice and mercy; 
the Vaishyas carry on trade and agriculture; 
the Sudras serve the three upper castes with 
loving service. 

This purifying process of humanity will be 
168 



THE IRON AGE. 

carried on all through the 144,000 years 
bringing about the highest spiritual, mental 
and physical development. From the shortest 
stature to which the human body will be de- 
creased, it will gradually, through this long 
process of time and culture, be increased once 
again to the height of 21 cubits or 31^ feet. 
With the height of the body will be reached 
the height of spiritual perfection. All, all 
men and women will once again enjoy the 
blessings of predominant Sattwa within Na- 
ture and roam upon the earth in the Garden 
of Eden with their vision turned inwards into 
the soul of things, their body clad with the sky, 
their hearts filled with ecstasy, their thoughts 
centered upon God, We all who are now walk- 
ing the earth, had walked in the last Golden 
Age and formed members of that godly fra- 
ternity of Adams and Eves and shall do so 
in the coming Golden Age, unless we develop 
higher soul-consciousness and, before the end 
of the present Kali, transfer ourselves to any 
of the upper four spheres or to the highest 
beyond the universe — Golaka — the abode of 
Absolute Love, to dwell with our only Lover 
and Beloved — Krishna. 

169 



SECTION XL 

MANWANTARA OR THE DELUGE. 

The next larger cycle of time is called the 
Manwantara or the Deluge. When the Divine 
Cycle has revolved 71 times it brings about 
a cataclysm. The oceans surge up and cover 
the entire earth with its waters, even the 
highest peaks of the Himalayas being sub- 
merged, and remain so for the period of 71 
Divine Cycles. This world-wide natural ca- 
tastrophy occurs periodically, owing to more 
and more increased accumulation of the sins 
of humanity, who, along with all living beings 
and vegetation are thus destroyed by submer- 
sion. The only man saved is the most virtuous 
and spiritual man of the time, who becomes the 
Manoo elect, fhat is, the spiritual governor of 
the next Cycle which extends between the 
time of the reappearance of land after the Del- 
uge to the next Deluge. This period is called 
Manwantara, the period between two Manoos. 
The account of the Deluge as given in the Old 
Testament of the Bible has been taken from 

170 



MANWANTARA OR THE DELUGE, 

minute accounts recorded in the Matsya 
(Fish) Purana and the condensed facts about 
them given in all the Puranas as well as the 
Mahabharata. Only, the Bible version is dis- 
torted in some particulars. 

Since the beginning of the present Kalpa 
creation, six Manwantaras, each ending with 
the Deluge, have passed away. We are just 
now living in the seventh of which twenty- 
seven Divine Cycles have rolled away and we 
are now living in the Iron Age of the twenty- 
eighth. Many millions of years therefore have 
gone by since the last Flood. Towards the 
end of the Kali Yuga of the last Manwantara, 
mankind became filled with the utmost cor- 
ruption. But there was, according to the Ma- 
habharata and the Bhagavat Purana, one man, 
by the name of King Satyavrata, whom this 
spirit of corruption failed to touch. He was 
almost as pure and spiritually powerful as 
Brahma, the Creator, while he was possessed 
of uncommon physical beauty. He was en- 
gaged in spiritual austerities and meditation 
in a holy forest on the top of the Himalayan 
^lountains for many hundred years. One day, 
171 



SREE KRISHNA. 

while he was sitting in contemplation on the 
bank of the river Cheerinee, a little fish lept 
out of the water into his hands. He threw it 
back into the river but the fish, to his surprise, 
spoke and begged the king to protect him from 
a large fish coming to devour him. Satya- 
vrata out of compassion took the fish into his 
hands again, went home and placed it in a 
water-pot. He tended him as his own off- 
spring. The fish gradually grew so big that 
he had to be taken to a large pond, but after a 
few years the pond could no more hold the 
fish, so large had it become. The King 
wondering at this unprecedented growth sus- 
pected the fish to be Vishnoo Himself. The 
fish begged Satyavrata to put him into the 
holy Ganges which he did by his Yoga power. 
In time, however, the fish growing still larger, 
he had to be taken to the ocean. The King 
exhibited his yoga-power again by carrying 
that huge fish to the ocean. 

As soon as he was thrown into the sea, the 

phenomenal Fish smiled and thus addressed 

the King, "O thou kind one ! Thou hast saved 

and protected me in every way, but I will 

172 



MANWANTARA OR THE DELUGE. 

leave nothing undone to return this kindness. 
Now, listen ! The time has come for one of 
the great events of the world. The destruction 
of the earth is at hand. On the seventh day 
from this, the earth shall be swallowed up by 
the waters, from which thou canst not be saved 
except through me. A large ark shall come to 
thee into which thou must get with the seven 
Rishis (Illumined Beings) of the Great Bear 
who shall help and bear you company. Take 
thou also all kinds of seeds of all trees, plants, 
shrubs and creepers, as also pairs of all animals 
and creeping things on this boat and wait for 
me. I will soon appear there, bedecked with 
horns. Do not doubt my words, but do as I 
tell thee." 

The strange Fish then disappeared as Sa- 
tyavrata said, "So shall it be." He then did 
just as the Fish had told him. When the ark 
came, he went aboard with the Seven Rishis of 
the Great Bear and seeds and animals and 
waited in anxious contemplation of the Divine 
Fish which soon appeared as he had promised, 
bedecked with horns and high as a hillock. He 
made salutation to him and tied the ark to his 

173 
r 



SREE KRISHNA. 

horns with a strong heavy rope, whereupon 
the Fish pulled the ark with great speed and 
began to play upon the bosom of the ocean. 

Then the ocean heaved with huge waves and 
the waters roared. It all looked as if the ocean 
was performing a wild dance. The ark was 
then tossed and whirled about with great force, 
and soon not a trace of land or sign of any 
direction was visible. Earth and sky seemed 
one vast expanse of water under which all 
men and beasts and birds and vegetation were 
drowned and destroyed. The Fish and the 
ark and Satyavrata with the Seven Rishis and 
the seeds and animals alone existed. The 
Divine Fish drew and preserved the ark for 
many years on the surface of the deep. 

Long, long time after, when the waters sub- 
sided and the highest peak of the Himalayas 
made itwSelf visible, the Fish drew the ark to 
it and said in a pleasant voice, addressing the 
Rishis, "O ye illumined ones ! Bind the boat 
for a while to this mountain-peak/' which the 
Rishis did. In commemoration of this event, 
this peak of the Himalayas is still called the 
"Boat-Binding Peak." 

J 74 



MANWANTARA OR THE DELUGE. 

When the ark was safely tied, the Fish said 
again to the Rishis : "I am Brahma of Brahma, 
the Creator. I have taken the form of the 
Fish to save you all from the Flood. Now this 
Satyavrata will be known as Vaivaswata 
Manoo. He will, by my grace and power of 
his Yoga, create all mobile and immobile 
beings of the earth, gods and asuras and men." 
So saying the Fish vanished. 

Vaivashwata Manoo, who is also called 
Shraddhadeva, then sat in meditation and in 
time, by his Yoga-power, created all the beings 
and creatures of the earth and celestial planes 
as he was bidden to do. 

This is the shortest sketch of a very long 
account of the Deluge in the Hindoo Books. 
The word Manoo has been distorted into the 
word "Noah" in the Old Testament. 

In the distorted version of the Deluge in 
the Holy Bible, this principal factor of the 
preservation of Noah and his Ark, the Divine 
Fish, has not been mentioned out of ignorance 
of the detailed facts of the cataclysm. This 
ignorance is excusable, judging from the fact 
of the remoteness of the time when the last 

175 



SREE KRISHNA. 

Flood occurred. What the Bible estimates as 
6,000 years the Hindoo Books put down at 
more than 4,000,000, when Manoo (Noah) 
was afloat on the waters of the universal in- 
undation. The Divine Fish is an incarnation 
of Vishnoo who is worshipped and prayed to 
in that form even now in India. When God 
Himself in Fish-form was the guide and pro- 
tector of Manoo there was no need of birds 
being sent out to reconnoitre as to the re- 
appearance of land. It was the Fish that first 
espied the highest peak of the Himalayas vis- 
ible above the waters and drew the ark to it 
and asked Noah and the Seven Rishis to bind 
that boat to that peak. That peak is still called 
the Boat-Binding Peak, the Sanscrit word 
being "Nou-Bandhan" peak. The Bible calls 
it the Ararat atld they are now trying to locate 
it in Syria and many other places. Even a 
common sense view of the matter ought to 
decide in favor of the Himalayas which are 
ever known a3 the highest mountains. That 
the first subsidence of the waters should first 
uncover a Himalayan peak is only natural to 
suppose. 

176 



MANWANTARA OR THE DELUGE. 

With the appointment of a new Manoo are 
also appointed some highly spiritual souls as 
gods, as well as the Seven Rishis (illuminated 
beings) who govern the seven stars of the 
Great Bear, in the places of the gods and 
Rishis of the past Manwantara, whose terms of 
office extend through the duration of one Man- 
wantara, the cyclic period between two deluges. 
As every civilized country on the face of the 
Earth is governed by a king and ministers 
and officers, according to systematic laws and 
regulations, the three spheres Bhur, Bhuba, 
Swar are likewise ruled by a king, ministers 
and officers. The government of the British 
Dominions may be taken as some sort of ex- 
ample to illustrate the Divine Administration. 
If we take England as the Swar sphere, Ire- 
land as the Bhuba sphere, India and Canada 
may stand for the Bhur or Earth sphere. 
Manoo, governor of the three spheres, can be 
likened to the King of England, though, unlike 
the English King, he is invested with Supreme 
power ;Indra is his Prince Minister. The Seven 
Rishis of the Great Bear may be called his 
independent Cabinet Ministers and Advisers 
177 



SREE KRISHNA, 

but superior to him in wisdom and intelligence. 
The gods may be compared to Members of 
Parliament, Secretaries of India and the Col- 
onies and departmental administrators. The 
Sons of Manoo act like Governor-Generals of 
India and Canada, etc. 

At the beginning of a Kalpa cycle, which is 
measured by one thousand Divine cycles or a 
little over 14 Manwantaras, the Manoos, Ris- 
his and gods of all the 14 Manwantaras are 
selected beforehand. We are now living in 
the Seventh Manwantara. Shraddhadeva, 
called also Vaivaswata, is our Manoo. 
The Saints Kasyapa, Atri, Vasistha, Viswa- 
mitra, Gautama, Jamadagni and Bharadwaja 
are the seven Rishis; Purandar is the present 
Indra. The Manoos, the Rishis, the Indras 
are all named for the coming seven Manwan- 
taras of the present Kalpa in the Shastras. 

The prevalent belief among Western Orien- 
talists is that Manoo was a man who was born 
a few hundred years ago and died a natural 
death after writing his law institutes for the 
Hindoos. A more erroneous idea could not 
exist from the Hindoo point of view. Manoo, 

178 



MANWANTARA OR THE DELUGE. 

being the spiritual administrator of the three 
worlds, has to live all through his term of 
office, which extends through 71 Divine cycles 
of which we are living in the 28th. Every 
Manoo incarnates himself as a Rishi towards 
the end of every Golden Age and compiles his 
law, and institutes for the benefit of humanity, 
while the seven Rishis incarnate among men 
at the end of each Kali Yuga to reveal the 
truths of the Vedas which are forgotten and 
lost before that time, 



179 



SECTION XII. 

THE KALPA CYCLE. 

When the Golden, Silver, Copper and Iron 
Ages, forming the Divine Cycle, have revolved 
for 1,000 times they complete a still larger 
cycle than the Manwantara, called the Kalpa. 
As each Manwantara is wound up with a 
Deluge, each Kalpa brings about a still great- 
er disastrous event, that of the destruction 
of the lower three spheres of the universe, the 
Bhur, Bhuba and Swar. The description 
given of this great cyclic event in the Puranas 
as well as in the Mahabharata, especialy by the 
Immortal Markandeya who has seen it many 
times, are simply appalling to the imagination 
of puny man. 

As I have already said it is only the exces- 
sive accumulation of human sins (Tama-life) 
that causes these natural catastrophies. The 
sum of sins which causes the Kalpa dissolution 
is many times greater than that which is the 
cause of the Flood. Human sins, however, 
are the immediate cause. The real or latent 

180 



THE KALPA CYCLE. 

cause is to be found in the operations of the 
Cardinal Attributes of Nature. Sattwa and 
Raja are absolutely subdued by Tama, which 
then growing more and more intense bursts 
into a flame out of the friction of its own 
forces. This conflagration first manifests it- 
self through etheric matter in the shape of 
seven suns suddenly appearing in the heavens 
and with their combined heat burning down 
the three spheres into ashes. This is followed 
by the appearance of strange clouds which 
then burst and deluge the ash-turned earth. 
The ash, in process of time, is absorbed by 
the water; then the air, turned into violent 
winds, absorbs the water; and then, when the 
air has been absorbed by ether (Akash), the 
destruction of the three spheres is completed. 

The Immortal Markandeya described this 
Pralaya (Dissolution) five thousand years ago 
to King Yudhisthira in the presence of Krish- 
na and the assembled sages in the Kamyak 
Forest. The following is a summary of his 
statement : 

"O King! At the end the Kali Yuga 
(previous to this Pralaya), when the earthly 

181 



SREE KRISHNA. 

days of all beings have come to an end, no 
rains will fall on earth for many successive 
years in consequence of which all beings on 
earth will die, owing to unbearable heat and 
hunger caused by drought and famine. Then 
will appear simultaneously in the heavens seven 
suns which will draw all the waters from all 
seas and rivers. Whether dry or wet, what- 
ever grass or w T ood there is on earth, will be 
reduced to tinder. Then will spring up the 
Fire, called Samvartak, which, aided by the 
wind, will attack the sun-absorbed earth and, 
piercing its surface, will burn all there is in its 
bowels. Indeed, by this wind-helped Sam- 
vartak Fire all created beings from the gods to 
creeping things and all that now exists in the 
three worlds will be destroyed and trans- 
formed into one huge heap of ashes. 

"Then will apear in the firmament wonder- 
ful-looking, liglitening-bedecked clouds 1 , ar- 
rayed as garlanded rows of elephants. These 
clouds are, some of them, of the color of the 
blue lotus, some of the color of the Koomood 
flower, some of the color of the golden heart 
of the lotus, some yellow, some green, some 

182 



THE KALPA CYCLE. 

speckled gray, like the color of the crow's 
egg y some colored like lotus leaves, some are 
light brown, others look like large cities, 
others like hordes of elephants, others like the 
color of eye-cosmetics, others shaped like 
crocodiles. These mysterious-looking, deep- 
scunding rain-clouds, sent by God, spreading 
themselves over the sky, will send down rains 
in a continuous stream, like watery pillars 
descending from above, inundating all the ash- 
heaped mountains and valleys, and extinguish 
the fearful Samvartak Fire. 

"O King of the Pandus! Thus, after 
these rains have fallen continuously for twelve 
years, the waters of the seas will rise in a flood 
and cover the earth, at which, the still solid 
cohesiveness of her mountains giving way, 
the earth will sink to the bottom of the sea. 
Then the clouds, driven by the powerful 
winds in all directions, will suddenly disap- 
pear. Then he of the Lotus-Abode and 
Lotus-born, the primeval god, Brahma, drink- 
ing in the winds and the air, will fall into 
sleep at the close of his day." 

The lower three spheres — Bhur, Bhuba and 

183 



SREE KRISHNA. 

Swar — are thus dissolved and there is nothing 
in their place but one vast expanse of water. 
The upper four spheres, Mahar, Jana, Tapa 
and Satya or Brahma, remain intact. The 
dwellers of the Mahar Loka, however, unable 
to bear the heat of the Samvartak Fire during 
the earth's destruction, leave it and go up 
to the Jana to live there during the duration of 
the Pralaya. 

Now, the question may be asked, why these 
four upper heavens are not destroyed, and 
how can there be an ocean of water when the 
Water Element is destroyed along with the 
other Elements ? 

The answer is very interesting and instruc- 
tive. There are two kinds or states of these 
Five Elements — Ether, Air, Fire, Water, 
Earth. One may be called Pure and the 
other Mixed. The Pure state of an Element 
means wholly unmixed by even the least touch 
or tinge of the other four elements. A mixed 
Element is made up of half part of one Ele- 
ment mixed with one-eighth part of each of 
the other four Elements. The Bhur, Bhuba 
and Swar are made of these five Mixed Ele- 

184 



THE KALPA CYCLE. 

ments which being destroyed by this Kalpa 
Pralaya, the three spheres are necessarily 
destroyed too. The Upper four spheres are 
made of the Unmixed Elements and hence 
they survive the Kalpa dissolution of the 
Mixed Elements. It is needless to say that 
dwellers of these upper realms are possessed 
of a physical body made of these Five Pure 
Elements, and in the highest realms the 
dwellers have no physical bodies at all and 
therefore no elements in their make-up. The 
bodies of some of them are formed of the 
Five Finest Essences of the Elements — Sound, 
Touch, Form, Taste and Smell; and of 
others, the highest beings in the Brahma 
Loka, of nothing but Consciousness and Ego 
and Ensouled Mind. 

The water of the Watery Expanse, into 
which the lower three spheres are reduced 
by the Kalpa Pralaya, is this Unmixed Pure 
Water, which is invisible to our ordinary 
physical eye. The world is indebted to the 
Immortal Markandeya for a description of 
what remains after this Kalpa dissolution. 
Blessed, then, with the finest and purest Ele- 

1S5 



SREE KRISHNA. 

ment-body, he alone hovers over this vast 
Watery Expanse. His experiences are record- 
ed in that History of the Universe, the Mahab- 
harata, of which here are a few details : 

Said Markandeya: "O King! In this time 
of the Kalpa Pralaya, when all gods, asuras, 
elements, demons, men, animals, trees and the 
firmament, etc., all, all the mobile and immobile 
beings and objects, will be dissolved into one 
vast ocean, I alone will hover over that endless 
expanse of water and become sad-hearted on 
viewing this general destruction. After float- 
ing on it for a very long period of time I will 
feel extremely exhausted. Then, shortly 
after, a huge tree in the midst of that one- 
ocean will attract my eye. O King! Rest- 
ing on the spreading boughs of that tree I 
will see seated on a couch of glory a lotus- 
eyed Boy with a face radiant like the light of 
the full moon. Instantly on seeing him I shall 
be extremely astonished and will say within 
myself 'How wonderful! Everything has 
been destroyed, how then is this boy resting 
here?' O Great King! Although I am 
blessed with the knowledge of the past, pres- 

186 



THE KALPA CYCLE. 

ent and future, I shall fail to know who 
that child may be. 

"Then that lotus-eyed Boy will thus speak 
to me in the sweetest voice: 'O Markandeya! 
I know thee. Thous art become very weary 
and wishing for rest. Therefore do thou 
enter my body and live there as long as thou 
mayest desire. I have been very pleased with 
thee.' O King! on hearing these words of 
the Boy I will be filled with the spirit of in- 
difference to my manhood and long life, at 
which suddenly that Boy will open his mouth, 
and I will then enter into that mouth through 
some divine means. 

"O Great King! Through his mouth I 
shall enter his belly and to my astonishment, 
shall see within him this whole earth of many 
kingdoms and cities, rivers, mountains, seas, 
the blue heavens bedecked with the sun and 
the moon, and the many forests. There I 
shall find Brahmans engaged in various relig- 
ious ceremonies, the Kshatriyas in ruling to 
the satisfaction of all other castes, the Vaish- 
yas in their usual vocation of agriculture, and 
the Sudras in rendering loving sacrifices to 

187 



SREE KRISHNA. 

the Brahmans; lions and tigers, and all the 
gods, angels and serial beings are living peace- 
fully in their respective spheres. In fact, all 
that existed before I shall find existing within 
the belly of that Great Soul. 

"O King! Thus, having seen the whole 
world w 7 ithin that Boy, I will travel for many 
thousand years, like one in a dream, within 
that world and in trying to find out its limit 
will rush in all directions but will not succeed 
in doing so. Then disappointment will turn my 
thoughts to that beautiful Boy again, and, 
with all the concentrated force in my body, 
mind and speech, I will then ask for his pro' 
tection and grace. At this I will be" carried, 
by a violent wind as it were, through his 
mouth out of his body and I will find him still 
sitting under that tree. 

'The Boy will then ask me with delighted 
heart and smiling face, 'O my good Rishi 
Markandeya! Thou didst become very tired 
floating on these waters for such a long time. 
Have you now been well refreshed by living 
within my body?' 

"Then I will behold my soul freed from all 

188 



THE KALPA CYCLE. 

bondage by the illumination which will enter 
me with the Boy's words. And placing his 
crimson Feet on my head I will address him 
thus with folded hands and humility, 'How 
lucky I am! To-day I have beheld the 
Lotus-eyed God of Gods, the Soul of All 
Things ! O God ! I have become very 
curious to know Thee and this Thy wonder- 
ful Maya (Illusion). Entering Thy belly 
through Thy mouth, I have seen the whole 
world existing there. O Lord ! it was through 
Thy grace that I did not lose my memory, and 
it is through Thy will that I have now come out 
of Thy body. O Lotus-eyed! I have become 
very desirous to know Thee. Why art Thou 
resting here in the form of a Boy after hav- 
ing devoured the w T hole world? How is it that 
this whole world is now dwelling in Thy body ? 
How much longer wilt Thou rest here? O 
Lord of Gods ! These subjects are great and 
unthinkable, and so I beg to hear from Thee 
their detailed explanations/ 

"The God of the Gods, after consoling me, 
on the last occasion, began to answer my 
questions. He said: 

189 



SREE KRISHNA. 

" 'O Brahman ! Even the gods have failed 
to know the mysteries of my creation. I will 
tell thee of it only to please thee. O Rishi! 
Thy wonderful devotion to thy father and to 
Me and to spiritual celibacy have won thee 
this grace ; I have appeared before thy vision. 
In time past I called water by the term "Nar" 
This Nar is ever my seat, hence I am called 
Karayan. I am the First Cause. I am 
Eternal, Inexhaustible, the Creator and De- 
stroyer of all that exists. I am all Wealth, I 
am Death, I am Shiva. Fire is in my mouth, 
the earth is my feet, the sun is my two eyes, 
the Celestial Regions are my head, the sky and 
the cardinal points are my two ears. Space 
and Eternity are my body, the winds, my 
mind. 

" 'All sacred ceremonies are performed to 
please Me. All the Vedas come out of and 
enter into Me. The peace-loving, mind- 
disciplined, enquiring, soul's-mystery-knowing 
Brahmans contemplate and worship Me alone. 
I am the Fire called Samvartak, I am the 
Samvartak Winds, and it is I who am the 
Seven Suns that rise and shine in Pralaya. 

190 



THE KALPA CYCLE. 

The stars that thou seest now in the firmament 
are the pores of my body, the sky is my rai- 
ment, the seas my seat and abode. It is I 
who have divided them as they are. 

" 'Men are born, are overwhelmed by My 
Maya and become enterprising through my 
Law, never through their own desire. Those 
Brahmans who thoroughly study the Vedas, 
perform many spiritual sacrifices, bring peace 
to their souls and vanquish anger; it is they 
who attain to Me. Those persons who are 
addicted to bad actions, are swayed by greed, 
are misers, crooked-minded and void of 
soul-culture can never reach Me. The paths 
of Yoga are as easy for pure souls to tread 
as they are uncertain to the wicked and the 
foolish. 

" 'Whenever religion suffers from revolu- 
tion and vice triumphs over virtue, I create 
myself and walk the earth and set things 
right. Whenever are born on the earth the 
selfish and envious Asuras and Demons so 
powerful that even the gods cannot destroy 
them, I in the form of man take birth in the 
family of pious men and bring peace to the 

191 



SREE KRISHNA, 

world again by subduing them. I am white- 
complexioned in the Satya Yuga, yellow in 
the Treta, red in the Dwapar and dark in the 
Kali. At the end of each great cycle it is I 
who destroy every thing. I am the Three 
Paths, the Soul of the Universe, Giver 
of all Happiness, Superior to All, All-Per- 
vading, the Endless and the All-Powerful. 

" 'At the last Kali Yuga of each Kalpa I 
spread my illusion upon all beings and enter 
into my trance-state. When old, old Brahma, 
transformed into a child, goes to sleep and 
keeps sleeping, I rest here on the waters until 
he is awakened. Now, go thou about on the 
waters in restful spirit until that time, when 
I alone will create again earth and sky and 
light, air and water, and all bodies.' 

"So saying, O King, that wonderful Being 
vanished from my view. Then by and by this 
world was created again. Thus in the last 
Kalpa Pralaya did I witness this wonderful 
event. The Lotus-Eyed Diety I then saw, 
you brothers have now established blood rela- 
tions with Him, this Krishna. It is through 
His grace that I have obtained uninterrupted 

192 



THE KALPA CYCLE. 

memory, become so long-lived and endowed 
with the boon of dying at my will. This 
Krishna who is now sitting before us all, 
this Krishna present here, who is born in the 
line of the Vrishnis, is just now merely playing 
on His earth. But it is He, this Krishna, 
who is the Ancient Person, the Lord, the 
Unthinkable Soul, the Creator, the Destroyer, 
the Eternal and the Master of All! I have 
been able to remember all these facts only 
through the inspiration of His presence here. 
He is the Mother and Father of all beings : 
do you all take His Refuge." 

Krishna has been called Narayan here by 
Markandeya, because Narayan, the Fourth 
Form-manifestation of Krishna in the unfold- 
ment of creation, is generally known as the 
Supreme Diety — Krishna. Narayan, as I 
have said before this, is Aniruddha out of 
whose navel springs the seed-bud Lotus with 
Brahma, the operating Creator of the details 
of Creation. 



193 



SECTION XIII. 

NATURAL DISSOLUTION. 

What is popularly known as Universal De- 
struction, is termed in the Hindoo Scriptures 
"Prakritic Pratisanchar" or Natural Retro- 
gression, which means Natural Disssolution. 
This marks the close of the Greatest Cycle of 
Time. It is the End of Time, the End of 
Creation. It is the Maha Pralaya. It in- 
volves the annihilation of the Universe, in one 
sense, because after its occurrence none of the 
Principles, except the Ultimate, exists. "In 
one sense" I say advisedly, for although the 
Manifest universe becomes non-existent, its 
latent spiritual impressions, forming its germ, 
are carried by the Three Cardinal Attributes 
into the Ultimate Principle, Love — Krishna — 
and preserved unconsciously, even during their 
rest in Krishna, in a state of equilibrium. It 
is out of this Mystic Ideation that, in the 
event of the inequilibrium of the Attributes, 
a fresh creation springs into existence. There 
is no such thing as destruction in the law of 

194 



NATURAL DISSOLUTION. 

Nature. Nothing is destroyed totally; all 
forms of destruction are but phases of trans- 
mutation, from gross manifestation into fine, 
from fine into finer, from finer into finest, 
from finest into mystic ideation which belongs 
to the realm of absolute spirituality. 

The Hindoo doctrine in regard to the pro- 
cess of creation is the unfoldment of 'the 
Twenty-three Principles from the reflection 
of the One, the manifestation into Many and 
the Diverse of the Mystic Energy of the One 
Unchangeable Absolute. This Mystic Energy 
unrolls its many and diverse phases and forces 
in creation and incessantly throughout its 
duration. "Prakritic" means "Natural" from 
"Prakriti," Nature. "Pratisanchar" is "Prati" 
and "sanchar" ; "Prati" means backward, and 
"sanchar" means the act of moving, motion. 
The whole word therefore means "moving 
backward." Prakritic Pratisanchar, therefore, 
is the moving backward of the Unfolded 
Principles of Existence (Nature) into its One 
Source, out of which they originally spring. 
This backward motion of Variety into Unity 
is caused by the extreme action of intense 

195 



SREE KRISHNA. 

Tama from which the following natural re- 
action puts the forces of the Three Cardinal 
Attributes into equilibrium. This equilibrium 
is the Unmanifest (Avyakta — unexpressed) 
state of Nature, and the inequilibrium brings 
about the Manifest state, the gross form of 
which is the universe. This action of Nat- 
ural Dissolution has also its reaction. It re- 
acts into a fresh Creation. 

The symptoms which manifest themselves 
previous to the occurrence of this universal de- 
struction are almost the same as those before 
the Kalpa Pralaya. Only, the degeneration 
of human society develops worse phases which 
are followed by intense heat, owing to the 
suspension of rains for years and years to- 
gether, resulting in the death of all moving 
and breathing beings. Then appear in the 
heavens twelve suns, instead of seven as in 
the Kalpa Pralaya, which give birth to the 
Samvartak Fire. The fire is followed by the 
appearance of the Samvartak Clouds, which 
deluge the earth with continuous rains for 
years; the deluge is followed by the winds, 
etc. 

196 



NATURAL DISSOLUTION. 

But the main difference lies in the absolutely 
destructive power of these Elemental agents. 
When the suns and the fire have done their 
work, the black surface of the earth looks like 
the back of a tortoise. Then the water in 
which it is submerged absorbs the very attri- 
bute of Earth — Smell — along with its sub- 
stance which then becomes absolutely non- 
existent and transformed into water. The 
water is then absorbed by Fire (heat) with its 
attribute — Taste — so that water becomes abso- 
lutely non-existent and is turned into Fire. 
The volume of Fire is then so increased that 
it burns the suns themselves, so that all the 
heavens, filled with all-pervading flames, burn 
on until everything in them is destroyed. Then 
the air devours the Fire with its attribute — 
Form — so that there remains nothing visible 
to the eye. The winds then move about with 
all their force in the Akas. Then Akas 
(Ether) absorbs the Air with its attribute — 
Touch — so that nothing remains which can 
be felt. Then Akas itself becomes unmani- 
fest, the Universal Mind having absorbed its 
attribute — Sound — which originally sprang 

197 



SREE KRISHNA. 

from it to create Akas (Ether). This is 
called the dissolution of the gross form of the 
Universe. 

The dissolution of the fine (subtle) form 
begins with the Moon, the presiding deity of 
the Mind, absorbing the Mind with its attribute 
— the power of Willing and Non-Willing, 
which, power with all its associations is then 
centered in the Moon. After a long time the 
Mind, centralized in the Moon, brings about 
the poise in its vibratory volition (the cause 
of material desires). This will-control re- 
sults in the Moon-centered Mind being ab- 
sorbed by its original Belief in the Oneness 
of Nature and Brahm (Divine Esssence). 
The Belief in this Unity (Ego) is then ab- 
sorbed by Universal Consciousness, and Uni- 
versal Consciousness with its attribute of the 
Power of Decision, is absorbed by Absolute 
Being (one of the Three Attributes of Para- 
Brahm). Then Wisdom (another of the 
Three Attributes, also called Intelligence or 
Truth) absorbs this Absolute Being. Then 
that all-impregnated Wisdom enters the Un- 
manifest Soul — Absolute Love — Krishna. 

198 



SECTION XIV. 

MODERN SCIENTIFIC TESTIMONY. 

A recent discovery of modern science has 
not only thrown the clearest light upon this 
Hindoo doctrine of the unity and composition 
of the universe, but has fully proved its cor- 
rectness. This is the first indirect investiga- 
tion of Western material science into the realm 
of the subjective side of creation. The author 
of this discovery, by strange irony of Fate, is 
a Hindoo, though educated and trained in 
scientific knowledge in England, under Eng- 
lish teachers of Science. He is now a scien- 
tific celebrity among Western scientific celeb- 
rities of the day; and if the work of his 
tested discovery be rightly estimated, he ought 
to be classed with the highest of them all. 
His name is Professor Jagadis Chunder Bose, 
D. Sc, Professor of Science in the Calcutta 
University. 

Prof. Bose's discovery, now embodied in 
book-form and entitled "Response in the Liv- 
ing and the Non-Living," marks a new epoch 

199 



SREE KRISHNA. 

in the advancement of modern science. It has 
been accepted by all scientific authorities, after 
the Professor had demonstrated it by experi- 
ments before a large number of scientific peo- 
ple in London, and notably by Lord Kelvin. 

Armed with the demonstrated facts of this 
discovery, Professor Bose maintains that the 
true test of the existence of life in any form 
of matter is its sensitiveness to external stimu- 
lus. According to this test he proves conclu- 
sively that no essential difference exists be- 
tween animals and metals or vegetables. He 
has shown by scientific experiments that a bar 
of iron is not only as irritable and sensitive 
as a human body, but that it can be killed or 
poisoned in the same way as a human body 
can be killed or poisoned. According to his 
discovery, life pervades every object and part 
of Nature ; and only some of these parts or ob- 
jects can be said to be in a dead state, which 
means they can be deprived of their sensi- 
tiveness to external stimulus. 

If any part of our body is pinched, the nerve 
which connects that part with the brain, run- 
ning all along, sends an electric current to the 
200 



MODERN SCIENTIFIC TESTIMONY. 

brain, vibrating under the pinch. The brain 
alone feels the pain inflicted upon any part of 
our body, says modern science ; and it is proved 
by the fact that no pain is felt by us if our 
brain is deadened by chloroform. 

The galvanometer is a well-known and very 
delicate scientific instrument for detecting the 
presence of electric currents; it has a needle 
on a pivot, and the faintest electric current 
will cause a deflection of this needle. If at any 
intervening part of the electric current-bearing 
nerve in the human body the galvanometer be 
attached, and the end of the nerve pinched or 
otherwise irritated, then immediately the needle 
of the galvanometer will deflect, thus showing 
that the irritation of the nerve causes a cur- 
rent like that of electricity to be sent along 
it. This fact is now very well known to scien- 
tists, and Prof. Bose's investigations are based 
upon this well-known scientific fact. 

With a view to ascertaining whether or not 
matter which has hitherto been known as non- 
living could be proved so under the test of the 
galvanometer, the Professor attached the in- 
strument to bars of different metals, with 
201 



SREE KRISHNA. 

startling contrary results. The Professor 
found that all metals show visible signs of 
sensitiveness when twisted or tapped. The 
greater the irritation the greater the visible 
signs of sensitiveness; even every single pe- 
culiarity in the irritability of animal matter is 
exactly reproduced in the case of metal. As, 
for instance, when the sensitiveness of a mus- 
cle or a nerve of an animal wears off after 
a time, under repeated irritation, it begins 
to show signs of fatigue, the deflection of the 
needle of the galvanometer becoming more 
and more feeble; the Professor found that 
metals would betray exactly the same signs of 
fatigue under repeated irritation. Again, after 
a short rest, the signs of fatigue were found 
to disappear in animal muscle and in metal 
alike, their sensitiveness being fully restored. 
This last fact is known to many of us who 
constantly use a razor and find it losing its 
keen edge and growing duller and duller, de- 
spite vigorous stropping, and spontaneously 
recovering its original keenness by being laid 
aside for a few days. 

Professor Bose's process of registering the 
202 



MODERN SCIENTIFIC TESTIMONY. 

deflections of the needle of the galvanometer 
is this: By a mechanical device the point of 
the needle is photographed on paper, which is 
moved along at a constant rate, the needle's 
point tracing out a series of zig-zag lines on 
the paper, when the needle is oscillated by an 
electric current. The width of the zig-zags 
corresponds to the amount of the deflection of 
the needle, therefore the strength of the elec- 
tric current. If there be no current, and con- 
sequently no deflection of the needle, its point 
will remain stationary and merely trace a 
straight line on the moving paper. 

This book of Prof. Bose's, "Response in the 
Living and the Non-Living/' is full of still 
more wonderful revelations. He has found and 
shown, to the satisfaction of European scien- 
tists through experiments, that metals do not 
only go to sleep, but can be poisoned and 
killed like human beings and animals. Like an 
unused animal muscle showing signs of slug- 
gishness and appearing to be in a kind of tor- 
por, then gradually seeming to waken up un- 
der irritation, and finally returning to full ac- 
tivity, Professor Bose proves that metals be- 

203 



SREE KRISHNA. 

have in exactly the same way and process of 
gradation. He also proves that the effects of 
extreme cold and extreme heat produce ex- 
actly similar conditions in both animals and 
metals. 

But men or animals can be drugged and 
made drunk. Can metals likewise be drugged 
and made drunk? Yes, says Prof. Bose, and 
he proves it absolutely. He proves that met- 
als show the same increase of irritability un- 
der the influence of stimulants and narcotics 
as the human body. Moreover, even as differ- 
ent animals are affected differently by the 
same dose of a stimulant, so also are different 
metals. Under the influence of carbonate of 
sodium, irritability of platinum is increased 
threefold, while the irritability of tin is less. 

Still more significant is the action of anaes- 
thetics and narcotics. Under their action the 
sensitiveness of metals can be reduced to any 
desired degree, exactly as is the case of human 
beings. A more striking parallel between ani- 
mal matter and metals is established by Prof. 
Bose. The action of some narcotics on the 
human frame is known to be paradoxical un- 

204 



MODERN SCIENTIFIC TESTIMONY. 

der certain conditions. While a large dose of 
opium, for instance, decreases the sensitiveness 
of the human body, a very minute dose has 
exactly the opposite effect, that is to say, acts 
as a stimulant. This anomaly has been found 
by Prof. Bose to have a parallel in metals, tin 
being found to show that its sensitiveness is 
increased half as much again by being treated 
with a minute dose of potash (3 parts in 100), 
but the sensitiveness begins to decrease when 
the dose is increased. 

Now the question suggests itself that if 
metals are as much alive as animals, then they 
must also be as liable to die as animals. Prof. 
Bose has found this to be a fact, too. Metals 
not only die; but they can be poisoned and 
revived, and poisoned and killed. 

In order to find out these facts, Prof. Bose 
took a piece of metal which showed full vigor 
of sensitiveness and so was considered healthy, 
and treated it with a moderate dose of oxalic 
acid, which is a powerful poison. The needle 
of the galvanometer instantly indicated a spas- 
modic flutter; the sensitiveness of the metal 
grew more and more feeble, till it seemed al- 
205 



SREE KRISHNA. 

most to die away. At this stage, a powerful 
antidote being applied, slowly and gradually 
the sensitiveness began to revive, and in time 
became as active as when the metal was not 
poisoned. The treatment of another piece of 
healthy metal with a strong dose of the same 
poison resulted in violent spasms, with rapid 
enfeeblement of sensitiveness, which soon van- 
ished altogether. After a proper interval the 
antidote was tried in vain; the piece of metal 
was killed forever. The results of experiments 
with different metals and different poisons 
were the same ; but all poisons not being alike 
in their action upon animal matter, the same 
is true of their action on metal, absolutely and 
undoubtedly. In some cases, however, after 
all traces of poison had been removed by the 
counteracting influence of stimulating acids, 
the poisoned metal was eventually reanimated ; 
which meant that the metal was not really 
killed, but was merely in a state of suspended 
animation. The most striking feature of the 
discovery in this connection is, that the very 
poison which kills both animal and metal is 
itself endowed with life, which shows itself by 
206 



MODERN SCIENTIFIC TESTIMONY. 

indications of irritability and sensitiveness, and 
which can itself be killed. 

Here is another significant point in regard 
to the operation of poison on both an animal 
and a metal. In the case of an animal the 
operation is twofold; first, the actual death 
process, lasting from a few minutes to several 
hours; secondly, the purely nervous effect 
which manifests itself in the form of spasms, 
paralysis or other symptoms, and which is de- 
veloped much sooner, sometimes instantane- 
ously. Prof. Bose has discovered the same 
phenomenon in metal. Under the effect of 
some powerful poisons there was instantaneous 
spasm shooting through the metal long before 
the corrosive action of the acid could pene- 
trate beyond the surface. 

Professor Bose has proved in his book that 
all these phenomena with every single variation 
exist as much in the vegetable kingdom as in 
the animal and mineral. Indeed, the three 
kingdoms of matter, the animal, the vegetable 
and the mineral, are, says the Professor, but 
one in essence and the physiological distinction 
between so-called organic and inorganic mat- 

207 



SREE KRISHNA. 

ter, of which man and metal are but types, 
is based upon a false and unscientific assump- 
tion. Prof. Bose dedicates his book to his 
countrymen, the Hindoos, because, he says, his 
discovery is a discovery made millions of years 
ago by the Hindoo sages, who proclaimed the 
unity of the universe in essence and construc- 
tion, as well as in the laws that govern it 



208 



SECTION XV. 

SCIENCE UPHOLDS SHASTRAS. 

Now let us consider the main points of this 
great epoch-making scientific discovery by the 
light of the truths of Nature and the laws of 
matter discovered countless ages ago by the 
illuminated sages of India, and handed down 
through the corridors of time. Every discov- 
ery of modern science has tended to establish 
the principles of Hindoo religion and philos- 
ophy, by furnishing practical testimony to 
what were so long considered as their mystic 
teachings. But this discovery of Prof. Bose's 
is an unexpected stumble of a purely ob- 
jective method of investigation upon the 
truths and laws of the subjective realm. The 
evidence which Prof. Bose's experiments af- 
ford is of course indirect; but this indirect 
evidence is startlingly direct in its pointed and 
unmistakable suggestions. It is therefore most 
opportune at the present moment, when* the 
human mind the world over is striving, im- 
pelled by a natural hunger, to get at the facts 
209 



SREE KRISHNA. 

back of the physical shroud of the universe. 
The Hindoo sages say that the universe is 
one whole, huge being, of which the high 
heavens are the head, the sun and the moon 
the eyes, space the body, and the earth the 
feet. Every inch, nay, every point, of this 
universe-body is alive as a healthy human 
body. The composing principles of this body 
are twenty-four, as I have already explained. 
These twenty-four principles are therefore 
present in every atom of it, in every speck of 
earth, the last principle in creation. This speck 
or molecule of earth has, however, no opening 
for any of its composing principles; whereas 
vegetable and animal life-forms have many of 
these passages of their composing principles 
more or less open. As a tortoise puts forth 
its body out of its shell and again draws that 
body into it, so out of Love the twenty-three 
principles are projected, and drawn, in the 
fullness of time, back into its bosom again. 
This reaction or journey of the universe back 
to its source is called universal destruction, 
or dissolution, or disintegration. This uni- 
versal dissolution takes place when the 
210 



SCIENCE UPHOLDS SHASTRAS. 

Three Cardinal Attributes of creation, out of 
which all the composing principles have 
sprung, fall into equilibrium; in other words, 
become equal in power or tension. This loss 
of tensity or equipoise in the power of the 
Cardinal Attributes, viz., Sattwa (Illumina- 
tion), Raja (Activity or Motion), and Tama 
(Obscuration), results in the loss of their in- 
dividuality, and their transformation into Pure 
Illumination. By pure illumination is meant 
unmixed illumination; that is to say, absolute 
illumination, having no tendency or trace in 
it of being disturbed into obscuration. In 
short, Sattwa, Raja and Tama are each of them 
mixed with the other two, its own quality being 
predominant in it. Their inequality of power 
brings them forth into and sustains their being. 
The moment this power becomes equal and 
they lose their existence, the Absolute Illu- 
mination, co-existent with Absolute Love and 
Absolute Being out of which they sprung, 
alone remains. 

This equipoise of the cardinal cosmic attri- 
butes takes place at intervals of time, the di- 
mension of which staggers the human mind to 
211 



SREE KRISHNA. 

imagine. But while the return- journey of the 
universe as a whole takes place once in an in- 
definitely long period of time, the molecules 
of earth, as soon as they are created, have 
a tendency to go back to their original source. 
But the molecule's journey backward to Love 
is made by a very circuitous path. That path 
leads through the process of opening one by 
one the passages of its composing principles. 
By passages is meant channels of communica- 
tion and sympathy with the main laws and 
vibrations of the working of the universe. 

The first step the molecule takes, in this 
return-journey, is by opening the passage of 
one principle, the sense of feeling, and becom- 
ing a blade of grass. A blade of grass has 
only one sense opened, the sense of touch, by 
which it draws juice from the earth for its 
sustenance. After being reborn thousands of 
times as a blade of grass, it draws the mag- 
netism from the different life-forms in Nature, 
which helps it to develop into a shrub. And 
then, after thousands of shrub-lives, it deve- 
lops into a plant, and then into tree-life, in 
which it puts forth flowers and fruits. And, 

212 



SCIEXCE UPHOLDS SHASTRAS. 

finally, drawing in more and more magnetism 
and vibrations from the animal world, it de- 
velops into an animal itself. At first it is but 
an animalcule, and then a worm. As a worm 
it has opened more passages, the passage of 
tasting (the palate), the passage of gripping 
(with the mouth), the passage of moving (the 
feet), the passages of excreting and generat- 
ing, the passage of seeing (the eye), the pass- 
age of smelling, the passage of hearing, etc. 
Through thousands of rebirths in each animal 
form it is promoted into higher and higher 
animal forms, in which more and more pass- 
ages of its composing principles are opened. 
The last forms of lower animals it takes are 
those of monkeys and apes, the forms just 
before developing into human form. In these 
ape forms of life it opens all principles except 
four; viz., Mind, Ego, Intellect and Love. 
However intelligent a monkey or a dog or any 
other animal may be or seem to be, the Mind 
principle is not yet open in it. All its actions 
are prompted by instinct, which is the natural 
impulse of the indirect influence of the mind 
on the verge of being opened, as well as of 

213 



SREE KRISHNA. 

automatic memory of past experiences in this 
and previous existences, the impressions of 
which are in their very blood. With the open- 
ing of the Mind principle begins the human 
form. It may be the most savage man, but it 
is human. He can think, is self-conscious, and 
acts with reasoned decision, however crude or 
erroneous; because with the opening of the 
Mind there are simultaneously opened the Ego 
and the Intellect, they being almost one prin- 
ciple in three. 

After these explanations of the composition, 
construction, and transformation of matter, let 
us go back to unopened matter, in order to 
explain the mysteries of Professor Bose's dis- 
coveries by the aid of the galvanometer. The 
Professor has discovered that the application 
of this delicate instrument reveals the fact that 
matter which has hitherto been considered non- 
living is very much alive indeed, as fully alive 
as living animals are, because they respond to 
external stimulus as fully as any living being. 
According to Hindoo definition and idea of 
construction and composition of matter, it is 
only natural that this should be so. To the 

214 



SCIENCE UPHOLDS SHASTRAS. 

nindoo sage this is not at all a wonder. Love, 
Consciousness, Ego, Mind, the ten senses, the 
five fine essences and the five gross forms of 
matter, called elements, are as much present 
in minerals, which are but formations of earth, 
as in animals. A lump of earth, or a piece 
of metal, or a vegetable, cannot give visible, 
direct response to external stimulus, because 
they have no openings (open physical organs) 
through which to manifest it. If you can by 
any means feel the vibrations caused by such 
stimulus within them, then only can you find 
the proof of the uniform composition and con- 
struction of all forms of matter in this one 
whole living universe. The galvanometer 
serves this purpose, and hence the Hindoo idea 
stands to-day as a demonstrated fact. 

Let us analyze the tests and proofs of the 
galvanometer a little more closely, and under- 
stand them according to the Hindoo doctrine 
of the construction and organization of what 
is called organic or inorganic matter. The 
Hindoo doctrine does not recognize the nerve 
or the brain as any of the principles which 
compose what is called the living body. The 
215 



SREE KRISHNA. 

nerve is but a mere physical vehicle of the sen- 
sation of the mind (which includes the Ego 
and the Intellect, the part of universal con- 
sciousness in individual souls), and the brain 
is the physical centre of these physical chan- 
nels of the mind's sensation and experiences. 
The mind feels the sensation of the external 
stimulus through its channels, the five cog- 
nizing senses, and the mind's sensations are 
carried through the nerves to the brain. This 
is in regard to animal life, which has brains 
and nerves formed fully or partially. The 
vegetables and minerals have neither brains 
nor nerves. How, then, do they show the 
same irritation as animals do to external stim- 
ulus, as shown by the galvanometer? 

The answer is simple. Because they Have 
the psychic vehicles, the five cognizing senses, 
by which to convey the sensation of the ex- 
ternal stimulus to the mind, and therefore they 
need no physical brain or nerve. Only, having 
no physical openings, they cannot manifest 
the effect of those sensations outside them- 
selves, as animals do; and only an instrument, 
like the galvanometer, is able to detect the 

216 



SCIENCE UPHOLDS SHASTRAS. 

sensations and indicate them by the deflection 
of its needle. Mineral and vegetable matter 
having all the twenty-four principles in 
them, have the mind and the senses, too. 
Only, they are in a shut-up, undeveloped state, 
and perform their undeveloped, crude func- 
tions like an unconscious mechanism. 

It is through the senses that sensations are 
perceived; and had not the senses been pres- 
ent within a piece cf metal or a vegetable, 
there would be no sensation in it, and there- 
fore the galvanometer would have been useless 
in its application and results, because, there 
being no sensation, there would be no deflec- 
tion of the needle. Professor Bose's experi- 
ments conclusively prove not only the unity, 
but the uniform composition and con- 
struction of the whole universe; that all 
its composing principles are present every- 
where; that in some phases they are in a 
latent and in others in manifest state. The 
tests of the galvanometer also prove that what 
is true cf the whole universe is true of a par- 
ticle of earth ; that the whole universe is one 
whole living mass, like a single living being, 

217 



SREE KRISHNA. 

and that every molecule of its composition is a 
universe in embryo ; because every molecule is 
instinct with all the forces and properties of 
the twenty-four principles, which are the ma- 
terials as well as the attributes of the cosmos. 



218 



SECTION XVI. 

PHYSICAL AND ASTRAL BODIES. 

It is the ignorance of the knowledge of the 
constitution of the universal and human bodies 
that forms one of the chief obstacles of a cor- 
rect study of the laws operating behind exter- 
nal Nature. It is the general belief of modern 
humanity that the human body is made up of 
flesh and blood alone. This is true so far as 
the physical body is concerned. But there is 
another body within us finer than the physical 
which is the real body and of which the physi- 
cal body is the outer encasement. This real 
body is called the Astral Body. The whole 
human body is like a clock of which the physi- 
cal covering is its case and the astral body its 
works. As the mechanical part of a clock is 
the real clock and its case with its dial and 
hands forms its covering by which it indicates 
its working, so the astral body is the mechani- 
cal part of the human body and the physical 
body is its case through which it indicates its 

219 



SREE KRISHNA. 

operations. Though far from perfect, the 
analogy is very suggestive. For instance, the 
mechanical part of the clock cannot serve its 
purpose without the aid of the case, dial and 
hands. The astral body likewise cannot be of 
any use without the co-operation of the physi- 
cal body. 

The mechanism of the astral body is com- 
posed of eighteen Principles, viz., Conscious- 
ness (Intellect), Ego, Mind, the Ten Senses: 
the Powers of Seeing, Hearing, Smelling, 
Tasting, Feeling, Speaking, Holding, Moving, 
Excreting and Generating; and the five attri- 
butes of the Elements : Sound, Touch, Form, 
Taste and Smell. These Principles work 
through their counterpart-organs of the physi- 
cal body which is composed of the five remain- 
ing Principles, viz., the Five Elements — Ether, 
Air, Fire, Water and Earth. 

Now let us see how the physical body is 
composed of the five Elements. The vigor 
of our father and the blood of our mother, 
of which our physical body is made, are for- 
mations of assimilated food. Every kind of 
foodstuff, vegetable or animal, is but con- 

220 



PHYSICAL AND ASTRAL BODIES. 

densed form of earth's juice; earth-juice is 
earth. Now Earth is composed only of its 
five attributes : Sound, Touch, Form, Taste 
and Smell, the first four of which compose 
Water, the first three compose Fire, the first 
two Air, and the first, Sound, is the Attribute 
of Ether (Akas). Therefore the other four 
Elements are present in earth on account of 
their respective attributes being contained in 
it. Our physical body, therefore, being- made 
of formations of Earth, is composed of the 
Five Elements. 

The material of the physical body is supplied 
by our parents and the astral body we supply 
ourselves. The astral body is our perma- 
nent body. It puts on new flesh-garments 
from time to time. When it slips into a new 
flesh-garment it is called birth; when it slips 
out of it, it is called death. But really the 
astral body lives on forever and ever and never 
ceases to exist unless we find the means and 
take measures to destroy it. The extinction 
of the astral body is brought about by the 
mind's absolute dissociation from the bondage 
and influence of matter and material ideas, 

221 



SREE KRISHNA. 

and absorption into the Divine Essence, Mukti. 
The earth and the visible sky form the physi- 
cal body of the Universe and the upper six 
spheres form its astral body which includes still 
subtler bodies. This means that both the uni- 
versal and the human bodies are constructed on 
the same principle. Both are formed of seven 
bodies, encased like a sheath within a sheath. 
These are called the Food-made (physical) 
body, the Vital body, the Mental (or Astral) 
body, the Psychic body, the Wisdom (or Cau- 
sal) body, the Blissful body and the Soul body. 



222 



SECTION XVII. 

KARMA. 

The Universe is one whole manifestation of 
Cause and Effect. All Nature is manifested 
and materialized forces of Action and Re- 
action. The Doctrine of Karma is based upon 
the natural law by which action produces re- 
action, the law of cause and effect. It holds 
that every action is the cause of every reaction 
as well as the effect of the action which is its 
producing cause. The doctrine of Reincar- 
nation specifies the different physical forms 
in which groups of accumulated causes of re- 
action manifest themselves in Nature. The 
laws of Karma are the regulated blendings of 
the subtle forces of the finer principles of Na- 
ture which, operating from within, shape 
these outer physical forms. 

Karma begins with the creation of the Uni- 
verse, and Creation begins with the loss of 
equilibrium of the three Cardinal Attributes 
while dwelling in a quiescent state in Absolute 
Love — Krishna. This inequilibrium develops 

223 



SREE KRISHNA. 

the germ of the Past Universe, which the At- 
tributes hold within them, and manifests itself 
as a New Universe — a new Creation. The 
word Karma is derived from the Sanscrit root 
Kri, to act. Karma means action. Action 
means the motion of the operating forces of 
Nature. The Karma of the past Creations, 
stored up as ideation within the even forces of 
the Attributes, works itself out in the form 
and phases of a new Creation. Every suc- 
ceeding Creation therefore is the reactive re- 
sult of all previous creations. This reaction of 
the accumulated action-potencies of the past 
creations produces the uniform dimensions 
and the principal features of the cycles, so that 
the history of every cycle, from the smallest 
to the largest, repeats itself in its chief points 
in naturally regulated succession. 

As in the great universe, so in its epitome, 
man. The microcosm is ruled by the same 
laws as the macrocosm, the laws of cause and 
effect, of action and reaction. Man is the 
conscious embodiment of the blended forces 
of his past actions, actions of previous con- 



224 



KARMA. 

scious embodiments born of the forces of still 
more previous embodiments. 

Action proceeds from thought. Thought 
is the source and spring of action. No action 
is possible without its producing cause, 
thought, which is a phase of the mind's voli- 
tion. All our thoughts are impressed on the 
mind, the moment they form themselves, in 
condensed pictures. The more powerful a 
thought, the deeper the impression on the 
mind. Weak, undeveloped thoughts make 
superficial impressions and are liable to wear 
off. The impression of a powerful thought is 
likewise rubbed off by the force of a strong 
counter-thought. An angry thought, for in- 
stance, prompts us to do a bad action, but be- 
fore it is reduced to action, our reason some- 
times intervenes, argues against it, convinces 
us of its error which induces repentance. The 
stronger the counter-thought of repentance, 
the more quickly and effectively it rubs off the 
impression. But if the thought is reduced to 
action, its impression is deep and enduring, 
and requires the aid of absolutely sincere, 
burning repentance to destroy that impression. 

225 



SREE KRISHNA. 

These thought-impressions on the mind are 
called seeds of Karma. They are exactly like 
seeds of trees in their potencies and operations. 
As a seed of a tree, when planted in the soil, 
germinates, grows, flowers and bears fruit, 
so does a Karma-impression germinate, grow, 
flower and bear fruit. As the germ of a 
seed, in process of development, produces the 
events called sprouting, putting forth leaves 
and branches, flowering and fruiting, so, a 
man's mental thought-impressions of previous 
lives, in almost the self-same way, sprout, 
put forth leaves and branches, flower and fruit 
in the shape of events, inside and outside of 
him. The thought-impressions are reflected 
upon the aura. "Aura" is a Sanscrit word, 
its transliterated form being "Ara," from 
"Ar" which means the spoke of a wheel. 
"Ara" means full of spoke-like shoots of ra- 
diance from any centre. This centre of our 
aura is our mind. Aura, therefore, is the 
radiance of the mind which permeates and en- 
velopes our body in an oval shape and gener- 
ally extends one cubit outside of our body. 
The aura and reflections of these thought- 

226 



KARMA. 

impressions on the aura are visible only to the 
spiritual and psychical sight. The illuminated 
saints and yogis who have developed this 
sight, not only see this aura, but also the re- 
flections of the thought-impressions which they 
can read and interpret as we read and interpret 
words. These reflections are called the char- 
acters of the mind — the Hidden Pictures 
(Chitra-Gupta) of Human Conduct — which 
reveal the past, present and future history of 
a human soul to those who can decipher them. 
From the aura these characters are reflected 
again upon the Ether which receives the im- 
pression and keeps the record of each external 
and internal event in Nature. The Ether is 
the storehouse of the records of all human 
and natural happenings and vibrations. And 
it is from this storehouse of all mental records 
that true clairvoyance draws its inspired mes- 
sages and revelations. A fully developed 
Yogi can learn the details of an event which 
occurred ten thousand years ago or of any 
time, and can tell of any present or future oc- 
currence in any part of the world by concen- 
trating upon the Ether, the all-knowing Ether. 

227 



SREE KRISHNA. 

Thus the records of the causes of human 
actions are kept in triplicate, so that there 
is no escape from the potencies of their merits 
and demerits, unless the main records (those 
on the mind) are melted away by the fire of 
absolute, all-absorbing spiritual consciousness. 
Actions (Karma) are of two kinds, white 
and black. White Karma springs from the 
Sattwic state of mind, and Black Karma from 
its Tamasic state. The color of Sattwa 
(Illumination) is white, the color of Tama 
(Darkness) is black, hence Karma is white or 
black. Raja is the attribute of Activity, the 
working principle, the motive power of action. 
Without the aid of Raja no action is possible. 
When Raja works with dominant Sattwa 
the result is white Karma, when it works with 
dominant Tama, the result is black Karma. 
The white and black actions are commonly 
called good and bad. What is a good action? 
It is an action whose ultimate reaction pro- 
duces harmony and happiness and illumines 
the mind. What is a bad action? It is an 
action which, however enjoyable or otherwise 
while it lasts, produces a reaction of inhar- 

228 



KARMA. 

mony, pain and misery, causing darkness of 
the mind. 

In respect to the law according to which 
they come to be worked out in their turn, the 
Karma-seeds, white and black, are of three 
classes — Sanchit, Prarabdha and Kriyaman or 
Agami. Sanchit means stored-up. Prarab- 
dha means Karma the reaction of which has 
begun or that which is working now. Kri- 
yaman means Karma-seeds originating out of 
the Prarabdha Karma now being worked out, 
but which will form the seeds of future 
(Agami) actions. Sanchit Karma includes the 
seeds of all the actions of past existences 
stored up as impressions on the mind. Out of 
this storehouse of Karma-seeds that, white 
or black, which is the most powerful asserts 
itself to be worked out first, drawing to itself, 
by the law of affinity, Karma-seeds of minor 
power, but of a nature similar to its own. This 
most powerful Karma-seed, lumped up with 
small Karma-seeds of similar character, forms 
the Prarabdha Karma, Karma which is in the 
process of being worked out. And in its pro- 
cess of working the fresh thought-impressions 

229 



SREE KRISHNA. 

which the mind is registering are called Kri- 
yaman (Karma being born), also called Agami 
(future) Karma, Karma seeds which, after 
being deposited in the storehouse, will come to 
be worked out in their turn in future, either as 
main or minor Prarabdha, according to their 
potency. 

This is the law of working of human Karma, 
the inexorable law which shapes our life and 
destiny, which fills existence with joy or sor- 
row. Karma is unending unless we learn the 
mysterious law which works it and grasp the 
still more mysterious Law behind that Karmic 
law and by its practice destroy its roots and 
prevent its present and future actions within 
us. I will speak of this Law and of its ways 
of practice later on. 

We often see a man, who has lived a good, 
pure and harmonious life, suddenly, through 
circumstances or bad associations, changed in- 
to a bad man. He becomes worse in habits 
and conduct and dies in that degraded mental 
state. Similarly we find some one very bad 
up to a certain period of life; he suddenly 
turns good and, before death, develops into an 
230 



KARMA. 

angelic character. This law of Karma is be- 
hind this change of character. Good Pra- 
rabdha influences one into good life and 
actions while it is working. But if some 
black Karma-seed is the most powerful of all 
Karma-seeds in the mind's storehouse, after 
the good Prarabdha has been worked out, it 
asserts itself to be worked out next and, 
lumped up with the minor seeds, forms his 
Prarabdha which changes the whole complex- 
ion of his character and conduct. The case of 
a bad man becoming good is subject to the 
same law; a white Prarabdha, owing to its 
predominant power, succeeds a bad one. The 
liability of alternate succession of bad and 
good Karma producing the actions of human 
beings is expressed in the metaphoric saying 
that the action of Karma in man is like a re- 
volving wheel. 

As a seed of a tree takes time to bear fruit, 
grow old and die, so a Karma-seed takes time 
to develop and die. As the periodical putting 
forth of leaves, flowers and fruits are the 
events in the life of a tree, so the experiences 
of a man's life represent the development of 

231 



SREE KRISHNA. 

his Prarabdha Karma-seed. The time a Kar- 
ma-seed takes to work itself out is measured by 
the duration of the sustaining power of its 
potentialities. One Prarabdha Karma may 
embrace two or three or more births if it is 
very powerful, or may end in the middle of one 
birth, if it be not so powerful. An extra- 
ordinarily powerful Karma may extend for a 
long, long time, covering many, many births, 
suicide for instance. The thought which leads 
to suicide makes the deepest impression on the 
mind, far deeper, in fact, than even the thought 
which commits murder. Why? Because we 
love our own life more than anybody else's or 
than anything else on earth. It, therefore, re- 
quires an extraordinarily powerful thought 
to overpower that innate, intense love of our 
life and incite us to destroy it. The thought 
back of this self-murder, therefore, makes the 
deepest impression on our mind and thus be- 
comes the most powerful Karma-seed of all 
Karma-seeds. This being so, it asserts itself 
to form the Prarabdha, every time it is worked 
out, to the exclusion of all other Karma-seeds, 
for a long series of births, in every one of 

232 



KARMA. 

which that soul commits suicide, sometimes, 
as it is often found, without any apparent rea- 
son. It is divine mercy alone that saves a 
suicide from committing suicide in every 
birth ever afterwards. Hence suicide is the 
greatest sin, greater than even murder. 

To the average Western mind this Karma 
philosophy strikes as intolerably pessimistic 
on account of the inexorableness of its laws. 
There is, however, no help for it. These laws 
rule us all whether we believe in it or not. 
They are no man-created laws, they are laws 
which operate throughout Nature, as much 
within a white man as within a brown, yellow 
or black man, of all stations of life, of all grades 
of consciousness. Yet it need not strike any- 
body, who has found the easy and rosy path 
out of the woods of Karma, as pessimistic at 
all. But he or she must ever keep to that path 
and never stray out of it from sheer wilful- 
ness, or else there certainly is no escape out 
of the labyrinth of Karma. 



233 



SECTION XVIII. 

REINCARNATION. 

Reincarnation, as I have said, is the physi- 
cal form in which groups of accumulated 
causes (Karma) of reaction manifest them- 
selves in Nature. Reincarnation means re- 
birth. Rebirth means, to be born again in flesh 
after death. In order, therefore, to know 
what is rebirth, we must know what is death. 
To know what is death, we must know what 
is life. 

Let us see what life really is. Human life 
is conscious mentality encased in flesh. To 
be briefer, human life may be summed up in 
one word — consciousness. Life of lower ani- 
mals is negative consciousness, while human 
life is positive consciousness. 

Human consciousness is subject to three 
states. The Waking state, the Dream state and 
the Dreamless Sleep state. In the waking state 
all our inner and outer senses work. The 
inner senses are : The Intellect, the Ego and 
the Mind. The outer senses are the five cog- 

234 



REINCARNATION. 

nizing and the five working senses. These 
senses are fully active during our waking 
state. So long as the mind thinks, the intel- 
lect decides, the Ego is self-conscious, the eye 
sees, the ear hears, etc., they are acting. And 
activity (Raja) brings about the reaction of 
weariness (Tama). In other words, the 
senses become tired out, owing to incessant 
work and need rest. It is the state of weari- 
ness of the senses that makes us feel exhausted 
and seek rest. But the senses cannot have 
full rest as long as we are in a waking state, 
for their activity never ceases while we are 
awake. Here Nature's law steps in and draws 
a veil between the senses and their objects, 
the veil of Tama, born out of the excessive 
work of Raja. We fall asleep. 

But in the first stage of sleep our senses 
still sustain their activity, though in a lesser 
degree than in the waking state, owing to their 
still cognizing reflections of the objects and 
scenes impressed on our mind while we are 
awake. This is called the dream state of con- 
sciousness. Dreams are of three kinds. The 
ordinary dream is made up of the blended re- 

235 



SREE KRISHNA, 

flections of impressions of scenes and thoughts 
in natural or fantastic shapes. The second 
kind of dream is a clear unmixed reflection of 
the mind's impressions of some of our ex- 
periences in a previous birth. The third kind 
of dream is a reflection cast upon our pure 
consciousness of coming" events from their 
Karmic impressions on the Ether or on our 
own aura. The ordinary dreams belong to 
the dream state. The other two classes of 
dreams are experiences during the dreamless 
state of sleep, generally in the morning just 
before awaking. 

The dreams in the first stage of our sleep 
keep our senses still employed and the mind 
active on that account, for the activity of the 
mind is generated by the operations of the 
senses with their objects. Hence neither the 
tired mind nor the tired senses derive the com- 
plete rest they need, until gradually the veil of 
Tama grows dense and shuts out even the 
mental reflections of objects from their view. 
This stops the operations of the senses which 
then are absorbed by the mind whose off- 
springs and agents they are, for the senses can- 

236 



REINCARNATION. 

not exist when they are deprived of their func- 
tion of cognition. The same thing occurs with 
the mind, for its activity, caused and sustained 
by the activity of the senses, is the only reason 
for its separate existence. With the loss of its 
function, therefore, the mind loses this sepa- 
rate existence and is absorbed by the Ego. The 
Ego is in the same way absorbed by Conscious- 
ness, for the Ego is dependent on the Mind 
which sustains its existence of self-conscious- 
ness. And then Absolute Consciousness, 
with the passive germs of the Ego, Mind and 
Senses merged in it, is absorbed in its turn by 
the Soul and dwells in its realm until the senses 
have rested sufficiently. 

In the depth of this dreamless sleep state 
of our consciousness, Tama gives place to the 
reaction of Sattwa which is very pure during 
this state. This dreamless sleep may be called 
a negative trance state. When we awake, 
through development of the Raja Attribute, 
we feel not only thoroughly refreshed but also 
in a state of mental harmony, a happy mood of 
mind. We also feel that we were, during 
that dead sleep, in a state of utter oblivion of 

237 



SREE KRISHNA. 

everything. We feel we forgot then even our 
own existence, feel that we were not conscious 
even of our own self, that we were in an ab- 
solutely happy state, happy with happiness it- 
self. We know of this condition, when we 
awake from it, by inference from the happy 
state of our mental mood, induced by the ab- 
stract impression of it upon our consciousness 
which was present then in its pure state. The 
cause of the refreshment and new strength of 
our body and senses is this dip in the Essence 
of the Soul, the source of all energy. The 
physicians try to put their patients into this 
deep sleep in serious cases of illness, knowing 
by experience that deep sleep is a quicker and 
more powerful restorer of health than any 
medicine, but they do not know where lies the 
balm of sound sleep. 

The activity of Raja brings about the awak- 
ening from this state by causing the unfold- 
ment of the . infolded Ego, mind and senses 
which resume their operations with external 
and internal objects as before. The difference 
between death and sleep lies here. After sleep 
we resume the functions of our senses, but 

238 



REINCARNATION. 

death is caused by the confusion of our mind, 
on account of the senses not being able to re- 
sume their functions, owing to the disorder of 
the physical counterparts of the sense-organs 
through disease. Disease belongs to the physi- 
cal body, and the senses with the mind and Ego 
belong to the astral body which we are. The 
pains we feel are caused by our identifying 
ourselves with our physical encasement. If 
we keep the fact constantly alive in our mind 
that our physical body is the earthly home of 
our soul, which is • the centre of our astral 
self, we will not only not feel physical pain 
but prevent or do away with such pain even 
in the physical body. To know ourselves as 
nothing but our physical body is the densest, 
narrowest and the most mischievous igno- 
rance. We often find proofs of this separate- 
ness of the physical and mental bodies from 
facts which present themselves in our daily 
life; we fail to cognize the experiences of our 
body or even of our senses when our mind 
is absent from them and absorbed in some 
other direction. It is the mind that feels pain 
or pleasure, not the body, neither the senses. 

239 



SREE KRISHNA. 

The physician, through the action of drugs, 
causes the attribute of Tama to assert itself 
and cover the mind's perception with its dark 
veil, so that the patient may not feel the pain 
of a serious operation on the body, while we 
feel no pleasure in eating or drinking if our 
mind is away from them. 

The Yogi who has, by practice, developed 
unbroken consciousness of the separateness of 
the mental and physical body not only enjoys, 
when the consciousness is absolute, immunity 
from physical diseases and mishaps, but also 
does not feel the throes of death when he leaves 
his worn-out or diseased physical tenement. 
But the generality of mortals who cannot 
think of themselves as anything else but their 
physical bodies, owing to ignorance, suffer 
from all physical diseases. When these physi- 
cal diseases put the physical counterparts of 
sense-organs into disorder, it confuses the 
mind when it finds that its channels of outward 
communication, the senses, can no longer work 
through them. In that confusion it loses its 
balance and is strongly swayed by the desire to 
again see and hear and feel and taste, etc. 

240 



REINCARNATION. 

But finding it impossible to do so in the pres- 
ent body any more, it tries to find some vehicle 
through which it can resume its functions. The 
pain of the worst stage of the physical disease 
distracts it more and more so that it thinks it 
would be more comfortable in any other body 
than its present one. In confusion, this central 
force of the astral body enters with that body 
into the volume of air which fills the physical 
body, thinking it will gain relief from the un- 
bearable pain. And no sooner the astral 
body, which is very subtle and finer than the 
air, enters into it, than it passes out, thus air- 
encased, through the mouth, causing the death 
of the physical body. This is the common 
process of death. Some astral bodies enter the 
air-body unconsciously if the mind has been 
benumbed by pain or covered by the influence 
of excessive Tama. But this is certain of 
every ordinary soul that it goes out of the 
body encased in air. 

The thought predominant in this supreme 
moment of human life decides the destination 
of the human soul encased in the astral body 
when it leaves its physical home. If we think 

241 



SREE KRISHNA. 

of nothing but of Krishna at this moment we 
go to Krishna and live in His Abode, Goloka, 
the Abode of Absolute Love. If we think of 
Christ we go to Christ in His Father's King- 
dom of Heaven. If we are filled with the con- 
ception of Nirvana — extinction of all individu- 
ality — we go to Nirvana. If we desire for 
higher life above the earth we go to the higher 
spheres. But if our earthly attachments, hav- 
ing their influence on our thoughts at that 
moment, fill us with regret for being taken 
away from them or make us desire for earthly 
life, we return to earth-life again, but not 
necessarily to a joyful or comfortable life. A 
life of worldly joy and comfort is due to good 
Karma and self-denial in some previous ex- 
istence. A life of sorrow and hardship is due 
to bad Karma. 

The earth-bound soul, on leaving the physi- 
cal body, feels overcome by the shock of its 
final trouble with and severance from that 
physical body and remains in an inert state 
for a time. When it recovers from that shock, 
it finds that it has been transferred to a worse 
state. Although the air-body in which it is 

242 



REINCARNATION. 

encased is not diseased, it has, however, no 
openings for its senses to perform their re- 
spective functions. It finds it cannot see or 
hear or smell or touch or taste anything and 
yet the desires for these objects of the senses 
are as strong as when it was in the physical 
body. This makes it weep for the loss of its 
dear physical body and it hovers about in space 
sad and restless. It has no stomach, yet is 
filled with mental hunger and thirst which 
grow intense because it has no means of 
satisfying them. Indeed, finding this astral 
life to be of greater torment, the unhappy 
earth-bound soul longs to have a flesh cover- 
ing again, to be reborn, and flies hither and 
thither blindly, because of the want of physical 
organs, and some day gains this object. It 
enters, through the vigor (Sanscrit 'virga,' 
'virjya/ force, power) of a man into a woman's 
womb. This causes conception. No concep- 
tion can take place without a disembodied 
spirit entering the womb. Vigor mixed with 
the mother's blood supplies the physical body 
which is mere dead matter without the vivify- 
ing astral soul. It is only when an astral soul 

243 



SREE KRISHNA. 

enters it that the womb closes and conception 
takes place. The incoming soul then feels it- 
self confined within its scope and cannot go 
out of it by its own effort or will. 

The selection of the vigor and the womb 
for the astral soul is made principally accord- 
ing to the subtle law of individual Karma and, 
secondarily, according to the law of affinity. 
The mental characteristics of the parents must 
be similar to those of the soul to draw it to 
them. As for its physical body, it may favor 
in appearance its mother or its father more 
or less according as their individuality and 
image are stamped on the vigor and the blood 
through the state of extreme mental concentra- 
tion induced at the time. If the incoming soul 
possesses far stronger individuality than those 
of the father and the mother, it asserts this 
upon its body and the child looks like neither 
the father nor the mother. He looks like him- 
self — a form and appearance born of the im- 
agination of its own strong individuality. 

This direct rebirth from hovering in the 
astral body in the astral plane for some time is 
not true in the case of every disembodied soul. 

244 



REINCARNATION. 

There are souls which, after death, may go at 
once to Heaven ('Swarga/ Celestial regions) 
or to Purgatory, the nether regions. Accord- 
ing to the Hindoo Scriptures, Heaven (Swar- 
ga) is not the Abode of God, but the abode of 
the gods, the S war-sphere where the gods, the 
governors of the Elements and Attributes of 
Nature, dwell. It is the Prarabdha Karma of 
the soul that determines its translation after 
death to Heaven or Purgatory. The joys of 
Heaven are reserved as a reward for good 
Karma. And yet these heavenly joys are but 
finest forms of material happiness, enjoyed by 
merit of good actions performed in earth-life 
for the sake of just such recompense. These 
heaven-dwellers mentally enjoy all these ex- 
quisite pleasures of the senses at their will, as 
well as the company of celestial beings, as 
long as the term of their merit lasts. At the 
expiration of the term they come down to 
earth to be reborn again. These heavenly 
blessings are, therefore, but transitory. 

Intensely wicked actions, in the same man- 
ner, are punished by a term of suffering tor- 
tures in Purgatory, at the expiration of which 

245 



SREE KRISHNA. 

the purged souls may go straight to heaven, 
if good Prarabdha Karma succeeds their ex- 
piatory sufferings, or be reborn again on 
earth. The tendency of the pleasure-seeking, 
materialistic, modern mind is to disbelieve the 
existence of any such place of torture as Pur- 
gatory. They think that Heaven and Purgatory 
exist only on earth within man's mind. This 
is true and yet it is not. If anybody develops 
high spirituality he or she can taste higher, 
finer and more lasting joys than even celestial 
pleasures. For such there is neither Heaven 
nor Purgatory, for intense spirituality burns 
down all seeds of Karma. As to endunng 
the tortures of Purgatory here on earth 
through repentance, that is true too. But if 
the spirit of repentance is not absolute, it fails 
to fully purge away the sin, so that such sinful 
souls have to go to the nether regions for 
complete cleansing. The Hindoo Books do not 
believe in such a thing as Eternal Hell or 
Punishment, because it is absurd, unjust and 
unscientific according to the laws of Nature. 
The governor of "Naraka" (Purgatory) is 
one of the gods, the presiding deity of Justice 

246 



REINCARNATION. 

(Dharmaraj) and the regions of his rule are 
situated within the bowels of the earth. Hu- 
man houses of correction (prisons) tend more 
to corrupt than to correct, because those in 
charge of them are not imbued with a perfect 
spirit of sympathy, justice and mercy. In the 
Divine houses of correction (Purgatory) per- 
fect justice blends with mercy and sympathy, 
and the governor thereof is the embodiment 
of these three attributes. He has to deal with 
his prisoners according to their own records 
of their misdeeds, reflected on the aura, a true 
copy of which is kept in the books of Ether, 
from which his Recording Angel transcribes 
items credited to each individual soul. 

For the pious, spiritually developed soul, 
however, there is no Purgatory, as I have said. 
It lives and breathes in a plane which is out- 
side of the three lower planes of selfish actions 
and their reactions, outside of the jurisdiction 
even of the gods. To his ensouled mind the 
word purgatory or heaven has no meaning 
whatever. He loves spirituality for its own 
dear sake and feels itself safe from all evil 
in the embrace of its protecting arms. 

247 



SREE KRISHNA. 

Into the vigor or the blood of such a spiritual 
soul, no wicked astral spirit can enter. Its 
pure aura repels such spirits and admits only 
kindred spirits seeking rebirth, drawn to it by 
Karma and affinity. 

Much suffering is the lot of the ordinary 
soul while growing in the womb, on account of 
its cramped consciousness and the narrow 
space in which it is confined. After the sixth 
month, it has a wonderful experience. The 
veil shrouding its past existence is suddenly 
lifted and the memories of all of its past births 
rush across its mind. It even witnesses the 
scenes of thousands of its previous existences 
and realizes the reason of the pain and sorrow 
suffered during all these existences — the rea- 
son of its having been attached to material 
objects and having disregarded the develop- 
ment of its spiritual self, its having been un- 
mindful of its duty to its Maker and its fellow 
man. This realization crushes its mind with 
contrition and it weeps and prays to God to 
forgive it and promises to live a life of devo- 
tion to Him in the future. This goes on for 
three months together until it is born, when, 

248 



SREE KRISHNA. 

at the touch of the earthly atmosphere all 
those memories vanish and it is once more 
drowned in oblivion. It is more from the pain 
of this shock that it cries out at the time of 
birth. 



249 



SECTION XIX. 

HOW TO DESTROY KARMA. 

Now comes to be considered the question of 
questions — How to do away with and avoid 
bad Karma. If Karma is the cause of all our 
sufferings in life, how to remove that cause. 
We have before this had births and the actions 
in those innumerable births have produced 
countless Karma-seeds. All these seeds are 
stored up in the repository of the mind. How 
is it possible, it may be asked, to destroy them 
all, and prevent fresh accumulation of new 
Karma-seeds in the present birth ? 

To those who ask this question seriously, 
that is, with a serious intention of acting upon 
any suggestion that may seem feasible to them, 
the answer is pregnant with all the essentials 
of a true solution. To* such the answer is 
simple and the mode of solution simpler. To 
the really serious soul, hungering for freedom 
from the bondage of Karma, even the practice 
of the principle of the advice may strike as 
still more simple. But the practice involves the 

250 



HOW TO DESTROY KARMA. 

full realization of the source of Karma, the 
perfect understanding of its laws, their opera- 
tions and their relations to his own individual 
self. 

Here I will try to put the philosophy of 
this solution as briefly as possible. If our ac- 
tions of this life are the products of actions 
in previous lives, the actions of those previous 
lives are the effects of actions in still more 
previous lives and so on. Thus trying to trace 
the causes of all our actions in all our past 
lives, we are bound to arrive at the time of the 
Creation of the universe, when it sprang from 
the Will of Krishna. We, as parts of the uni- 
verse, sprang from that Will too. Krishna's 
Will before Creation was: "I am One and I 
wish to be the Many/' and His Creation is the 
manifestation of His Will's motion towards 
manifoldness and Karma is the law of the 
rhythmic steps of that motion. The Will of 
Krishna, therefore, is the cause of all Karma 
of the entire Creation as well as of ours, be- 
cause we are but parts of that Creation. This 
makes it clear that, since Krishna is the cause 
of all Karma* of the Universe, He is the Actor 

251 



SREE KRISHNA, 

of all actions. This being so, the cause of 
our sufferings from bondage to Karma lies in 
our mistaken conception that we ourselves are 
the doer of our actions. This cannot be, be- 
cause all our actions proceed from our past 
Karma, the roots of which are embedded in 
the Will of Krishna. It is Krishna that is the 
whole Universe, as well as its laws and actions. 
It is Krishna that suffers and enjoys in so 
many shapes and forms which make up His 
moving Will, called Nature. All our troubles 
are born of our usurping His place, the place 
of the Real Actor. Hence Karma clings, by 
natural law, to whoever claims it. We claim 
the doership of actions which manifest them- 
selves through us, but the real Doer is the 
spring of primeval action — Krishna Himself. 
This belief, that we ourselves are the doers 
of our actions, subjects our Ego to their re- 
actions. If by tracing the source of Karma to 
Krishna, we dispel this illusion from our mind 
and keep it ever out of it, so that it may not 
disturb our conviction of the fact that Krishna 
is the only Doer, all our past and present 
Karma, the stored-up and the working — San- 

252 



HOW TO DESTROY KARMA. 

chit and Prarabdha — will leave us of them- 
selves and go to Krishna to be absorbed by 
Him, while, for the same reason, the Karma- 
seeds springing from our present actions will 
be rendered germless like roasted seeds which 
never grow. But this belief needs constant 
practice of this thought in order to be sus- 
tained without interruption and involves think- 
ing of Krishna, Absolute Love and Life, every 
minute — thoughts by which the thinker ab- 
sorbs the essence of the purest spirituality 
whose illumination ever guides him along the 
paths of Truth and Wisdom and prompts him 
to actions whose results bring harmony and 
happiness to himself, as well as to all with 
whom he comes in contact. 

This exposition of the truth of our utter 
irresponsibility of our actions will appear 
strange and mischievous only to unthinking 
minds. The fear that such a belief of ir- 
responsibility may lead some people to bad 
actions is entirely groundless. Such a thing 
can never happen for, with such a belief firm 
in our mind, we have to think of God always 
in all our daily actions, and this constant think- 



SREE KRISHNA. 

ing induces concentration upon the Deity whose 
spirit is sure to prevent and counteract all our 
evil' thoughts, not to speak of evil actions. A 
man who will do evil actions, taking advantage 
of this principle, will only deceive himself. 
Such evil-doing can only show that he has no 
belief in the principle at all, but thinks of it 
only with a view to justify actions which he, 
in his heart, believes to be his own, but at- 
tributes to God to get rid of their respond 
bilities, if possible. But if anyone believes 
firmly that God is the Doer of all actions and 
yet, for want of proper culture of this belief, 
he is betrayed into evil actions, be sure his 
belief growing stronger will soon control his 
actions and lead him along the paths of the 
good and the pure. God-Consciousness de- 
stroys all evils of the mind to their very roots. 
Thus Karma and its effects, which for the 
ignorant, unthinking, and reckless human soul 
are ever interminable, can by exercise of wis- 
dom and mental power and discipline be ab- 
solutely done away with. Karma belongs to 
Krishna and it is to Krishna that it and its 
fruits should be unreservedly dedicated for 
good. The moment this mystery of Karma is 

254 



HOW TO DESTROY KARMA. 

solved and the soul that solves it acts upon its 
lesson, than Krishna takes it into His arms, 
and the soul and its Maker, now face to face, 
laugh together at this riddle of life, and in that 
laugh of ecstasy all sorrow and pain of the 
past are forgotten by that saved soul. 



255 



SECTION XX. 

THE ATOM'S RETURN JOURNEY. 

It is absolute Krishna-consciousness — or God- 
consciousness, if you will, if that God is Ab- 
solute Love — that carries the atom from its 
man-stage of development to its Real Home, 
Krishna, the Abode of Eternal Love and Bliss. 
Like all roads leading to Rome, all religious 
paths lead to that Home. The primeval, the 
most natural and the most scientific religion, 
called now the Hindoo religion, has construct- 
ed five main roads for making the return 
journey easy, and the travelers can choose any 
of these roads, according to their inclinations 
and the state of spiritual progress. One is the 
Path of Light and Psychic Force, called the 
path of the Sun, because the Sun is the presid- 
ing deity of the path. The second is the Path 
of Success whose presiding deity is Ganapati, 
Bestower of Success. The third is the Path 
of Destruction of Tama whose presiding deity 
is Shiva, the Destroyer, one of the Hindoo 
Trinity and the presiding deity of Tama, Shiva 

256 



THE ATOM'S RETURN JOURNEY. 

who has subdued Tama and become its lord. 
The fourth is the Path of Divine Energy whose 
presiding deity is Durga, the Motherhood of 
God and the Universe — "Prakriti," Divine 
Nature. The fifth is the Path of Spiritual De- 
votion whose presiding deity is Vishnoo (Ani- 
ruddha), the presiding deity of Sattwa, out of 
whose navel the universe has sprung and who 
is the dispenser of Moksha to the walkers 
of all the other paths. In this path is in- 
cluded another path, a path far superior to all 
the five paths, the Path of Absolute Causeless 
Love which leads direct to Krishna, whose pre- 
siding Deity is Krishna, the Deity of all the 
deities. These different path- walkers are 
called by the names of their respective deities 
of worship — Saura, Ganapatya, Shaiva, Shakta 
(worshippers of 'Shakti,' Energy) and Vaish- 
navs, among whom are included Krishna- 
worshippers. 

The Sun is the medium of the physical 
manifestation of the Divine Light, the Light 
of Absolute Intelligence, the Co-existent Attri- 
bute of Absolute Love. It is called the Par- 
ent of the gross universe, the Outer Eye of the 

257 



SREE KRISHNA, 

Deity, the passage of the First Sense of the 
Divine Mind which produced Forms. The de- 
votee of the Sun worships it as such, as 
the medium of the Absolute Deity, Krishna. 
Some of them concentrate their eyes upon the 
Sun, immersed in water up to the neck from 
sunrise to sunset, others pray to it morning, 
noon and evening and contemplate its power. 
The sun is not blazing hot as some modern 
people think. It is peopled by spiritual souls 
who, by the merit of soul-development, go from 
earth after death to dwell there for further 
development. These; spiritual souls are spir- 
itually governed by one who is most developed 
among them. He is called the Sun-God, the 
representative of the sun. Sun-worship 
leads finally to Krishna-worship in some fully 
developed reincarnation. 

Ganapati, first-born of Shiva (Shiva means 
Weal, Destroyer of 111 or Evil), is the pre- 
siding deity and bestower of Success — mate- 
rial, moral and spiritual — which is the chief 
factor of human weal. Satisfied material suc- 
cess, virtuously earned, inspires the desire for 
moral development in well-ordered minds, and 
258 



THE ATOM'S RETURN JOURNEY, 

moral development, in turn, leads to spiritual 
unfoldment. By concentration on this Central 
Idea of Success itself, the mind of the devotee 
of Ganapati, absorbs its essence, the force of 
which guides his efforts to prosperity. Earth- 
ly prosperity, enjoyed with discrimination, 
impresses us with its hollowness, its failure 
to satisfy the inner craving of the mind and 
points to the path of solid, all-satisfying, per- 
manent happiness. 

Shiva is the Presiding Deity of the Weal of 
Creation, hence his name — Shiva. He is the 
Conqueror and Destroyer of Darkness 
(Tama). He helps his devotees to dispel the 
darkness of ignorance generated in their mind 
by its Tama Attribute, and thus uncover its 
attribute of Sattwa by the illumination of 
which their souls reach the state of Moksha 
— Freedom from the Bondage of Matter — and 
finally merge in the Divine Essence whence it 
originally sprang. ; 

Durga is Divine Energy, the Motherhood \ 
of Creation. She is the Sattwic force by 
which Shiva subdued Tama. Hence she is 
the consort of Shiva, the Helpmeet of Spirit- 

259 



SREE KRISHNA. 

ual Weal. Without Durga, his Shakti 
(Energy), Shiva is inert; with his Shakti, he 
is alive and rules the universe. Shiva and 
his Shakti are inseparable, as man and his 
mental energy, which alone he is, is insepa- 
rable. Man is moved by his mental energy, 
so Shiva is moved by his spiritual energy. 
Durga is the highest spiritual phase of Kalee, 
Conqueress of Time and Door of Eternity. 
She is the Spiritual Force of Nature (Pra- 
kriti), she is the Mother of the Universe. 
Her devotees called Shaktas (Shakti-wor- 
shippers) meditate on her as the Great Mother 
and pray to her for her grace, as a child talks 
to its mother and looks up to her for help, pro- 
tection and sustenance. When the most spir- 
itual of her devotees develop the same natural 
love for and unshaken faith in her as those of 
2m innocent child to its mother, they are 
blessed with her last grace. They are helped 
to Moksha or led into the path of Krishna, 
this last the greatest of all her gifts. She, as 
Yoga-Maya (energy of the highest spiritual 
concentration), holds the key of the Gate of 
Goloka, Krishna's Abode of Love-Bliss. 

260 



THE ATOM'S RETURN JOURNEY, 

Vishnoo is the sum total of all the deities 
which are the manifestations of his powers 
and attributes. He is the Parent of both the 
Motherhood and Fatherhood of the Universe 
— the Spring of Creation itself. He is the 
Presiding Deity of Sattwa out of which are 
born Raja and Tama. He is the Preserver, 
the Sustaining Power of the Universe. He is 
the Way to Moksha, His Essence is the Abode 
of all Salvation. He is the Outer Form of 
Krishna, the Form through which Krishna 
manifests His Will and becomes the Many 
from the One. His Abode, called Vaikuntha, 
the Centre of his All-Pervading Essence, is 
over this universe, over Brahma-Loka — Brah- 
ma's Abode. He is the last but one Goal of all 
spiritual aspirations. He is the Gate of 
Krishna, the Last Goal. 

The upward evolution of the atom from the 
man-stage has to pass through many higher 
spiritual stages in higher and higher spheres. 
Interested spiritual culture, by which I mean 
spiritual culture with a view to enjoy the fin- 
est essence of sensuous happiness in spheres 
higher than the earth, never lifts a human 

261 



SREE KRISHNA. 

soul beyond the Bhuba and the Swar, the 
abode of the gods. The Bhuba sphere is just 
over the earth. It is the astral sphere. It 
is peopled by semi-celestial spirits and beings 
whose bodies are made mostly of ether, air and 
fire and the finest essence of water and earth ; 
hence they are invisible to our gross physical 
eye. They are so light that the air to them 
is like firm land to us ; they walk over it aswe 
walk over earth. There are houses and roads 
in this sphere as on earth, as also in the Swar 
sphere. Many psychical persons have now 
and then a glimpse of the Bhuba sphere and 
the dwellers therein. One of my students in 
New York, the truth of whose visions is 
known to many, has often seen these airy 
houses, roads and beings. The Swar is com- 
posed of finer material than the Bhuba, and its 
atmosphere is more sacred. Selfish spiritual 
culture is rewarded by a term of residence in 
the Swar. When the term is over the soul 
has to come down to earth again to be reborn 
as man. 

The soul which loves and cultivates unsel- 

262 



THE ATOM'S RETURN JOURNEY. 

fish spirituality, spirituality for spirituality's 
sake, succeeds when it has no desire or sym- 
pathy any more for anything earthly, in skip- 
ping over the Bhuba and Swar, after death, 
and enters and becomes a dweller in the Mahar 
sphere. Such a soul seldom comes back to 
earth, but through higher development attains 
to the Brahma Loka and there waits, to be ab- 
sorbed or immersed in Vishnoo's Essence, till 
the time of the Universal (Natural) Dissolu- 
tion through which it reaches its goal. 

The worshippers of Vishnoo pray for one of 
the five states of Moksha (Salvation), accord- 
ing to the preference of their inclinations. 
These five states of Salvation are Salokya, 
Samipya, Sarupya, Sajujya and Sarshti. 
Salokya is, to dwell in the plane of Vishnoo. 
Samipya is, to live near Vishnoo as a servant. 
Sarupya is, to live with Vishnoo as his com- 
panion and having Vishnoo's form and appear- 
ance. Sajujya is, to remain immersed in 
Vishnoo's Essence. Sarshti is, to possess even 
the powers of Vishnoo. Those who attain to 
the first three states of Salvation serve as mes- 
sengers of Vishnoo, and at times act as me- 

263 



SREE KRISHNA. 

diums of communication between Vishnoo and 
the dwellers of the Universe, while some of 
those who attain to the last two states come 
down to earth only from time to time as Ava- 
tars, partial Incarnations of Vishnoo (God). 
These have developed complete God-conscious- 
ness and after being immersed in the Essence 
of Vishnoo for eons together, they have 
been thoroughly Vishnooized. True, they were 
human beings before, but now they are 
Parts of God Himself. They have no more 
recollection of their former existences. There- 
fore, to call them any other than Vish- 
noo is blasphemy. When the affairs of the 
earth are in chaos and humanity in general 
needs spiritual uplifting, some of these im- 
mersed souls are detached, and they come 
down to our sphere, take birth and walk 
among us, helping us, by examples and 
teachings, to right actions which lead to Sal- 
vation. 



264 



SECTION XXL 

YOGA. 

There are five processes of mental discipline 
by the aid of which the human soul can reach 
its goal quicker. These are called the five 
paths of Yoga, viz., Hatha, Karma, Raja, 
Gnana and Bhakti. Yoga means Union. The 
word Yoga is the original of its corrupted 
English form "Yoke." Yoga, therefore, means 
yoking the Mind to the Spirit of God by con- 
centration. Hatha Yoga consists in cleaning 
and disciplining the outer and inner physical 
body by the practice of certain postures of 
sitting, processes of moving the muscles and 
fixing the eye upon some external object or 
the tip of the nose. These, in time, induce 
mental poise. Karma Yoga is performing 
good actions, and practising spiritual form- 
ulas which contribute to the purification of the 
mind and, finally lead to the unfoldment of the 
soul. Raja Yoga is stopping the functions of 
the mind's volitions. By volitions of the mind 
are meant thought-currents. By the practice 

265 



SREE KRISHNA. 

of Raja Yoga, the outflow of these thought- 
currents can be entirely stopped and turned 
inwards in one concentrated stream into the 
soul. The main process of shutting in the 
mind-currents is by controlling the breath. 
The action of our breathing upon our mind is 
like that of the pendulum of a clock upon the 
movements of its hands. As, for instance, 
the quicker the pendulum swings the faster 
the movement of the hands, so, the quicker 
our breathing, the more rapid the action of 
our thought-currents. By controlling the 
breath by certain exercises, prescribed by Raja 
Yoga, one can make his breathing slow and 
thereby diminish the speed of the thought- 
currents. During these breathing exercises, 
the mind is concentrated upon God or the 
Divine Idea, or some mystic words expressive 
of the Deity. This lessens the activity of the 
mind which then gradually experiences a calm- 
ness unfelt before, a calmness which in itself 
is a happiness which no form of enjoyment of 
material pleasure can afford. Calmness of 
mind develops into harmony, the result of the 
expression of the Sattwa attribute. 

266 



YOGA. 

There are five kinds of mental states : 
Murha, Khipta, Bikhipta, Ekagra, and Samad- 
hi. The Murha, ruled by predominant Tama, 
is generally attracted to evil objects owing to 
lack of discrimination. Khipta flits from one 
object to another in search of pleasure. It is 
ruled by predominant Raja, so is ever 
active and never satisfied. The Bikhipta 
mental state, ruled by the equal combination of 
the three attributes, is generally like Khipta, 
but at times fixes its attention inwards though 
for a short time only. When the Bikhipta 
is helped by the practice of concentration into 
the Ekagra (one-pointed) state, then it is that 
harmony is brought about. When, by con- 
stant practice, the one-pointed mind becomes 
unwaveringly fixed on the Deity or the Idea 
of the Deity gained through the increasing 
illumination of the Sattwa, it enters into the 
Samadhi (Trance) state, the state of Absolute 
absorption into the Deity. 

The practice of the Raja Yoga has been for- 
bidden in the Shastras in the Kali Yuga (Iron 
Age) because, in this age, excepting in rare 
cases, the human body is too weak and delicate 

267 



SREE KRISHNA. 

to stand the hardships, psychic exertions and 
physical privations of its practices, and be- 
cause an adept Yogi-Gooroo, without whose 
constant help in every detail of it no student 
can attain the highest result, is very hard to 
be found. Many who now practice it under 
inexperienced Gooroos in India meet early 
death or develop incurable diseases or even 
turn insane. A moderate amount of simple 
breathing exercises may not be so injurious or 
fatal, but too much of it or the practice of 
the advanced rules ought never to be at- 
tempted, especially in the West, where a 
proper Gooroo can never be found and where 
most people's nerves are generally shaky. 

Gnana Yoga is an entirely mental process 
of Yoga, a process of discriminating between 
the Unsubstantial and the Substantial in Na- 
ture and concentrating upon the only Sub- 
stantial Essence of things and gradually get- 
ting absolutely absorbed by it. The keeping 
up of this process of thought in an unbroken 
stream requires living a life of simplicity, soli- 
tude and renunciation. The life in which this 
thought-current becomes unbroken is the last 

268 



YOGA. 

life, last incarnation of that soul. It escapes 
rebirth for good for which it has worked for 
many incarnations. Its separate Ego is 
merged in the universal Ego and finally is lost 
in and becomes one with the One-without-a- 
Second. 

Gnana Yoga belongs to the school of the 
Vedanta philosophy. Vedanta is "Veda" and 
"Anta" which means "End," so that Vedanta 
means End of the Veda — the Aim or Goal of 
the Veda; and the word Veda is the original 
of the English word "Wisdom" (Swedish, Vis- 
dom) from Sanscrit, "Vida," to know. Veda 
means knowledge of the Reality, the Truth. 
The Vedanta Aphorisms of Vedavyasa are but 
Indices to the Principles of the Upanishads — 
the Wisdom part of the Veda. There are two 
Schools of Vedanta, the Old and the New. 
The Old possesses the true interpretation of 
the Aphorisms, the New is deluded by their 
false interpretations, is only about two thou- 
sand years old and has a comparatively small 
number of adherents. The Old school is 
founded on Parinambad, the new is founded 
on Vivartabad. The Old school holds that 

269 



SREE KRISHNA. 

the universe is composed of the ever change- 
ful manifestations of the Will (Energy) of the 
One Changeless Deity (Parinambad), the 
New calls the whole universe, in fact, all that 
is visible and perceptible, Maya (Illusion), in 
the sense that it never existed, does not exist 
now and will never exist. All that exists is 
Brahm, the Divine Essence, and we are That. 
All else is illusion wrought in our mind 
through ignorance, just as the mistaking a 
piece of rope lying in some dark place for a 
snake is due to the illusion of the darkness. 
This theory with its plausible analogy is all 
wrong. The universe is not all illusion though 
it is the changeful force-materialization of the 
Unchangeful One Substance. The force or 
energy or light or reflection of a substance is 
inseparable from it and is pervaded by it and 
partakes of its spirit. This materialized force- 
reflection of Brahm not only possesses its sub- 
stance at bottom but must be called a part of it 
as the light of a flame or reflection of a light 
is undeniably its part. The analogy of the 
snake and rope is, therefore, not true of God 
and the Universe : The snake is merely the 

270 



YOGA. 

conjuration of the darkness and not born of the 
rope; but the universe is born of Brahm (the 
rope). The theory that it is born of the illu- 
sion of our ignorance, is absurd in that it in- 
volves accepting that "ignorance" to be some- 
thing self-existent, that it has an independent 
existence, separate from the All-in-All, the 
One-without-a-Second. If not, whence is this 
"ignorance" which has such power of illusion 
over our mind and senses? What is it? 
Whence does it come? The Neo-Vedantist 
answers, it is something inexplicable, His Maya 
is inexplicable — the argument of one in dark- 
ness himself. This New Vedantic thought has 
done and is doing more harm to the world than 
any other religious theory. It is a worse delu- 
sion than the delusion of Maya. 



271 



SECTION XXII. 

BHAKTI YOGA. 

Bhakti Yoga is concentration on the Deity 
through Devotion, the best and highest form of 
Yoga, higher than all the other forms, as 
Krishna Himself has said in the Bhagavat 
Gita. Devotion is the full fruition of spiritual 
concentration. A true devotee is the highest 
Yogi, for he is filled with humility, and sin- 
cere, abject humility is the expression of the 
sublimest spiritual nature; it is ''the softened 
shadow" as the Lord says, "that is cast by My 
Love." Sincere humility springs from the 
clear realization of the Presence of God in 
everything, that the whole universe is formed 
of the many forms of the One Form and its 
Radiance. And with that never fading vision 
before the mind's eye, the devotee forgets him- 
self and stoops low at the feet of every one 
and at everything he sees, for he sees in them 

all his Deity. 

Bhakti is of two kinds, Gnan-Bhakti and 
Prem-Bhakti. Gnan-Bhakti is devotion aided 



BHAKTI YOGA. 

by culture of wisdom, its Deity is some in- 
carnation of Vishnoo and its goal is the Abode 
of Vishnoo or the Essence of Vishnoo. Prem 
Ehakti is devotion through Love — Causeless, 
Disinterested Love, love for love's sake, and its 
Deity and Goal is Krishna — Absolute Love. 
The Path of Prem Bhakti lies within the Path 
of Gnan Bhakti, but this Path within the Path 
is hedged in high to shut out the view and 
sound of the main path. The devotee of 
Prem Bhakti dedicates all his knowledge, wis- 
dom and actions to Krishna, the spring of all 
Wisdom and Actions, and prays Krishna for 
His love, the luxury of loving Him for His 
dear sake. 

The Prem Bhakta wants nothing from his 
Lord, no boon, no blessing, material or celes- 
tial, not even Salvation or Mukti, nothing, noth- 
ing, save — the blessing of being filled with love 
for Him. He prays to his Lord : ''0 my Krish- 
na! It matters not what betides my body, my 
lite or my earthly circumstances, or in what 
form of life I am reborn, even if it be that of a 
worm, let my faith and love be fixed in Thee, 
my Beloved. Whatever is there in all exis:- 

273 



A. 

I 
The-: ; I boa art I -total erf tt ; 

t apf - e -.s, Thou 
3bject d 

truth, on and 

: . m ent erf the dooc 

erf all the Uni- 
.': and Fac^. the Eoctii erf the 
Lore that fills all thai is. Hence th 
Bhal means the Bath erf Lc 

Devotiot u called the Path of Beauty and 
Sw-v Beaut and S eetness are co 

- are one and ti 

erf Beauty and Lc Parent 

both. Ki are 

proachaHe, d conceivable 

The t -.-cloud* 

:on- 

and crest c I peace at of 

: attraction — His k 



•n 

of tbt Mppliir g cm Uoe, are rain sti 

/ > ■ ■ - 1 ■ .".or and a :n. 



BHAKTI YOGA. 

garland and ornaments of wild flowers, His 
jewel Kaustubha on His Breast and His bam- 
boo flute were all proud contributions of Na- 
ture to Her Supreme Lord. If we can imag- 
ine the essence of the purest of pure love con- 
densed into a substance as thick as flesh and 
moulded into form, we can then have some 
idea of the material of Krishna's Body, 
whether in Glory or on earth. It is a Form 
which, the moment you produce some likeness 
of it in imagination thrills you with ecstasy. 
for it is Ecstasy condensed. 

Krishna is best worshipped with the heart. 
Prayers and incantations and offerings, with- 
out sincere feeling, do not reach Him. He 
responds to the call of love alone. Call Him 
from the innermost depth of your heart with 
pure love — love unmixed with motive — with 
sincere, artless love of a fond baby for its 
mother, and He will appear to you and do 
whatever you want Him to do. Krishna is 
your veriest own, nearer to you than your 
nearest relative, your only true friend in life 
and Eternity. He is dearer, more precious 
than your body or your life or your heart for 

275 



SREE KRISHNA. 

He is your soul and soul is dearer and more 
precious than body, life or heart. It is Him 
you have been searching in all your searchings 
in life, in lives you have lived before, and Him 
will you search in lives that are to come after 
this life. He is ever with you. He is within 
you, but you are searching for Him outside of 
you — hence you miss Him, hence you run 
after all the will-o'-the-wisps of life, thinking 
these will give you the joy which your Only 
Beloved and Lover alone can give. No 
wonder you are deceived, depressed, unsatis- 
fied — the reward of chasing the shadow of the 
substance that lies within you, the reward of 
chasing the rainbow which is but the reflection 
of the Sun of your soul's sky. 

The devotee of Krishna meditates on Krish- 
na regarding Him In one of the four human 
relationships, whichever suits his natural in- 
clination best, viz., Dasya or the relationship 
of a Servant to his Master, Sakhya or the rela- 
tionship of the Friend to his Friend, Batsalya 
or the relationship of a Son to his Parents or 
Parents to a Son, and Madhur or the relation- 
ship of a Wife to her Husband or of a loving 

276 



BHAKTI YOGA. 

Woman to her Lover. These four kinds of 
devotional feelings are natural in man. By 
"natural" I mean born from Nature of which 
man is the best earthly product. But where- 
from has Nature derived them? From her 
parent-source, Krishna, of course. So these 
feelings are present, in their absolute perfec- 
tion, in Krishna, the source of all Life. Flow- 
ing from Krishna into His Creation, they con- 
stitute the cords of attachment between man 
and man, the natural bonds of union between 
soul and soul, the natural channels of com- 
munication between man and his Maker. 
They are the invisible w r ires of telegraphy be- 
tween the Central Soul and its branch souls — 
between the Parent Soul and its offsprings. 
If the instruments of the branch offices are 
rusty and out of order they cannot transmit 
their messages to the main office or receive 
messages therefrom. The moment they are 
cleaned, repaired and put into working order, 
they are open to perfect communication once 
more. 

The devotee of Krishna cleans the rusty 
and disordered instrument of his heart by cul- 

277 



SREE KRISHNA. 

tivating one of these feelings of devotion for 
Krishna. And the moment this feeling attains 
its natural state, the moment it becomes ab- 
solutely sincere, than he absorbs and is filled 
with absolute Love from its Primeval Spring. 
Krishna is absolutely divine and absolutely 
human, for it is perfect humanity that is per- 
fect divinity. Krishna is Love itself, the Love 
that destroys all distance, Love that draws the 
Lover and the Loved closest to each other. It 
knows no ceremony, knows no formal respect. 
It knows no motive. Love is its own cause, 
motive and satisfaction. Divinity demands our 
reverence and inspires us with awe. Despite 
its strong attraction we can but adore it from 
a distance, we cannot approach it too near. 
But Love draws us to its bosom and holds us 
close: Love is a Master and Love is a Slave. 
It knows no barrier, sees no faults, nay, sees 
virtues in faults. It responds to its own clear 
call or vibrates to the voice of its own in- 
spiration and blesses its own creation with 
greater gifts of its own wealth. 

Whichever of the four devotional feelings 
towards Krishna the Bhakta (devotee) culti- 
278 



BHAKTI YOGA. 

vates, it must reach the stage of unalloyed 
sincerity to be rewarded by its blissful realiza- 
tion. The loving Servant of Krishna must 
love His service above all he loves and holds 
dear. The devotee who wants to be the Friend 
and Companion of Krishna must have his all- 
forgetting Love of Krishna pervaded by an 
uninterrupted sense of equality with Him. He 
may serve Him as a slave, but it is the service 
of a friend who is more than a slave to his 
friend. The devotee who wants to love Krish- 
na as a Father or Mother must have unwaver- 
ing sincerity of such paternal love and affec- 
tion. He or she must always consider him- 
self or herself superior to Krishna whom they 
must regard as a helpless child in their charge. 
This true parental feeling is pervaded by the 
unconscious spirit of spontaneous service and 
friendship, for no friendship and service can 
be compared with those of parents. The same 
rules apply to the cultivation of the filial feel- 
ing of devotion to Krishna. The fourth, the 
feeling of a loving wife to her lord sums up 
the essence of all the foregoing three feel- 
ings. It is the highest and tenderest feeling 

279 



SREE KRISHNA. 

of devotion. The true wife is the servant, 
friend, mother and lover of her husband. She 
is his slave, equal and superior by virtue 
of her all-surrendering love. Every form of 
pure love is self-surrender. The love that 
knows no surrender or sacrifice is a mockery. 
It mocks itself more than its object, for sacri- 
fice is its chief test and best expression. Love 
that only loves, if loved, is pure selfishness, it 
is self-deception. But the love that loves for 
its own sake and is the fullest satisfaction in 
itself, the love that loves whoever or what- 
ever its object loves is the Love Absolute that 
Krishna is. The human soul that develops it, 
binds Krishna thereby and holds Him its 
prisoner for good. When that Love develops 
the tenderness of a loving wife, it captivates 
the Heart of hearts, and entrances the Soul of 
souls, Krishna. 

These Vaishnav forms of devotion reached 
their highest degree of development and re- 
ceived their greatest impetus on the appear- 
ance of Sree Chaitanya, the Fullest Incarna- 
tion of Krishna, who was born in Nuddea, on 
the Ganges, Bengal, a little over four hundred 

280 



BHAKTI YOGA. 

years ago and flourished for nearly half a 
century. He was Krishna Himself incarnated 
in the form of His Greatest Devotee. Krishna 
is the Mystery and Chaitanya is its Explana- 
tion. Whenever Krishna comes to earth as 
the Mystery of Love in the Junction Period 
of Dwapar and Kali, He comes again in the 
form of Chaitanya as the Explanation of that 
Mystery, five thousand years after, to show 
to mankind the Way to Himself for examples. 
Chaitanya's love, devotion and spirit- 
uality will ever remain unparalleled. He 
preached Krishna, the Seed and Soul 
of Love Absolute, and while preaching he 
would burst forth into song in praise of Krish- 
na. Thus singing he would be filled with 
ecstasy and, in its fullness, he would be moved 
into the most graceful dance the world has 
ever seen, now shouting the Name of his Lord 
and anon weeping for his Lord's grace, his 
arms and whole body waving and quivering 
with the heaving billows of his heart's love- 
ocean, streams of which, like water from 
many fountains, would flow from his eyes in 
the shape of tears. And in those tears, stream- 

281 



SREE KRISHNA. 

ing straight from his eyes to the ground, all 
those, who catching his spirit caught also his 
ecstatic motion, would be literally bathed. And 
all India was "flooded," as the authoritative 
records of his apostles tell us, with Chaitanya's 
Divine Love, and millions of sinners that felt 
it, were borne away by its tide. 

Sree Chaitanya preached and proved the 
potency of Krishna's Name — that His Name 
is the Lord Himself. If anybody says "Krish- 
na, Krishna" mentally or loudly and con- 
centrates his mind on it, he is bound to ab- 
sorb its Love-Nectar, be drunk with its ecst- 
see Krishna in Form and in everything, and 
finally go to Goloka after passing out of this 
life. Hari is the popular Name of Krishna. 
It means, He Who steals our sins. Chaitanya 
lid shout "Hari, Hari!" or "Haribole !" 
(say, Hari) and vibrations of that Name would 
thrill through all hearers and change them 
into pious devotees. Millions upon millions 
were thus saved by him, millions of sinners 
turned into saints. The world has never seen 
such an Avatar, the Incarnation of All-Love 
Krishna. He lived the most blameless life 



BHAKTI YOGA. 

from childhood to his disappearance at the 
age of forty-eight. 

Like master, like servants. His Apostles 
were of such spiritual purity and sublimity 
that it would be hard to find one like them 
even in India of the past. Any of them 
was competent to save a whole world. 
They have left thousands of Books on Krishna 
and Chaitanya's Life and Teachings which 
are of the utmost value to the students and 
adherents of all religions of all climes, ages 
and denominations. Love is the theme of 
every book, and it is difficult to resist its es- 
sence pouring into you as you read them. 

If my life is spared by the Lord, and if my 
Krishna wills it, I may present the Life- 
Story and Teachings of Sree Chaitanya and 
his apostles to the Western reader in a short 
time. In that book a detailed exposition of 
the Vaishnav religion will be given, an ex- 
position which may interest Christians. The 
present book is but the preliminary part of 
the Chaitanya book I intend to write, for 
Chaitanya cannot be understood without first 
understanding Krishna and His Leela on 

283 



SRBB KRISHNA, 

earth. Chaitanya may be called the Indian 
Christ, but a Christ the like of whom has 
never appeared on earth. Chaitanya did not 
even leave his Body behind when he left this 
earth. He entered one morning into the 
Temple of Juggernath and disappeared — no- 
bodv knows how or where. 



281 



SECTION XXIII. 

VAISHNAV, CHRISTIAN OF CHRISTIANS. 

The Krishna-Worshipper is either a house- 
holder or a hermit. He is either a devotee 
who cultivates the love for Krishna amid 
the duties and distractions of the world or 
a devotee who leaves the temptations and tur- 
moil of the world and sojourns in some sylvan 
retreat in the holy forest of Brindaban, the 
earthly abode of Krishna, or in the outskirts 
of a town or village within a humble mon- 
astry composed of a couple of huts with a 
little flower garden fenced around. But the 
most advanced Krishna hermit tarries nowhere 
longer than a few days, but ever roams about 
in the land sanctified by the touch of the Lotus 
Feet of his Lord. 

The formula of worship and religious rules 
of life practised by both the hermit and Rouse- 
holder are practically the same. It consists 
of mental and physical practices, more mental 
than physical. The moment the householder 

285 



SREE KRISHNA. 

t 

awakes from his sleep in the morning he utters 
the name of Krishna thus : 
"O Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, 
Krishna, Krishna, Krishna ! 

Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Krish- 
na, Krishna, Krishna! 

Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, 

Krishna, nourish me! 
Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, 

Krishna, protect me! 

1 salute Thee, O Krishna, give Thou me Thy 
Love !" 

Then before he leaves his bed and puts his 
foot upon the earth, he prays and salutes 
Mother Earth thus: 

"O thou ocean-girdled, mountain-breasted 
goddess ! I salute thee, O thou Consort of 
Vishnoo ! Forgive me, thy suckling. O 
Mother, this my touching thee with my feet !" 

Then, after answering the calls of Nature, 
and after rubbing his hands and feet with 
pure earth and washing them for many times, 
he takes a full bath either in the Ganges or in 
any river if it is near by. If not, he bathes 
in a pond or at a well or at home with two or 
286 



CHRISTIAN OF CHRISTIANS. 

three large jarfuls of water. While bathing, 
he utters many a hymn and prayer to Krishna. 
After the bath, he wears a piece of dry cotton 
cloth which has been washed in clean water, 
or a piece of pure silk cloth. He then goes 
to a flower garden and culls some scented 
white flowers for Krishna, whom he then sits 
to worship in his sacred room. He mentally 
repeats for one hundred and eight times the 
Mantram he has received from his Gooroo, 
counting it on his fingers. Then he takes a 
few tiny leaves of the sacred Tulsi plant, 
smears them in sandal-wood paste and, clos- 
ing his eyes, mentally offers them with the 
sacred white flowers to the Lotus Feet of his 
Deity upon whom his mind is concentrated. 
This concentration is helped from outside by 
the spiritual vibrations of his sacred room and 
the inspiring effect of the perfume of the in- 
cense, the sandal-paste and the flowers. He 
then chants long prayers and hymns in Sans- 
crit to Krishna and His Love-Energy, Radha, 
and to all the saints and great devotees of 
Krishna of the past, begging them for their 
blessings of Krishna's Grace. He then sings 

287 



SREE KRISHNA. 

songs of the Lord's Love, and tears of ecstasy 
roll down his cheeks as he sings in the aban- 
don of his devotion to the accompaniment of 
a pair of small cymbals he keeps striking to 
keep time. 

The Mantram is composed of three, four or 
five Sanscrit words beginning with what is 
called the Seed Word with the Name of 
Krishna and a dedicatory word attached to it. 
The Seed Word is the Seed of Krishna-Love. 
It awakens in the heart spiritual passion. This 
Seed Word, if mentally repeated with intense 
concentration, bursts open the shell of the 
Sound-Form of Krishna — His Name — which 
contains the Nectar of Absolute Love. The 
word "Sanscrit" means pure, refined. The 
Sanscrit language is the language of the pure, 
undefiled voice of Nature. Hence it is called 
the "language of the gods" who are repre- 
sentatives of Nature's attributes. These at- 
tributes are blendings of forces. Each force 
has a name (sound), a form and a quality. 
A man in intense pain expresses it in such 
sounds as "Oh-h!" "Ah-h!" This "Oh-h" 
or "Ah-h" may be called the sound (voice) 

288 



CHRISTIAN OF CHRISTIANS. 

of pain, the contortions of the face the ex- 
pression of its form and the feeling it pro- 
duces is its quality. The quality is the sub- 
stance of the force called pain and its sound 
and sign (form) are its expressions. If there 
were a miscroscope powerful enough to reveal 
to our view the figures which sound-vibra- 
tions create on ether, we would then find that 
the above-mentioned sound-expressions of 
pain create forms in ether much like the com- 
bined letters "Oh-h" and "Ah-h." This 
means that it is from the impressions of sound 
vibrations on Ether that characters of all lan- 
guages have been formed ; the pictures reflect- 
ing themselves on the inventor's mind through 
the medium of its subtle force called inspir- 
ation. 

The characters (Sanscrit, "charitra") of the 
Sanscrit language, the parent language of all 
languages, are born with creation. They are 
entities in Nature, form-expressions of her 
forces. They are eternal and indestructible 
— "akshara," as characters are called. The 
vowels are masculine forces, the consonants 
are feminine forces. The masculine charac- 

289 



SREE KRISHNA. 

ters (vowels) are independent, the feminine 
characters (consonants) are dependent. The 
vowels can be pronounced by themselves, the 
consonants can only be pronounced when 
united with the vowels. The vowels are the 
expressions of the Essence of the Deity 
(Krishna), the consonants are the expressions 
of the Will-Force of the Deity ("Prakriti," 
that which procreates), Nature. Nature is 
born of Sound, the attribute of Ether, (Akas) 
which was the first manifestation of creation. 
That first sound was "AUM" — mispelled and 
mispronounced in English as "Om." The vowel 
A, (pronounced "Au" in Sanscrit), the initial 
letter of "AUM" is the parent of all letters 
and languages. This "AUM" in sound repre- 
sents the distant vibrations of Krishna's Flute, 
the Music of Love, while its character-form in 
Sanscrit resembles the Form of Krishna play- 
ing on His Flute as the reader will see from 
the little outline picture of Krishna with its 
back-ground of "AUM" in Sanscrit character 
printed on the title-page of this book. This 
is the mystery of what Krishna Himself says 
in the Gita, "I am the Word AUM." 

290 



CHRISTIAN OF CHRISTIANS. 

The different combinations of the other 
Sanscrit characters (forms of natural forces), 
called words, represent, similarly, pictures of 
sound-forms of different attributes and ob- 
jects. Sanscrit words, in fact, are sound- 
shells which hold within them essences of the 
attributes they represent and the objects they 
signify. The letters K, R, I, SH, N, A joined 
together form the word Krishna, which is the 
sound-shell of the Essence of Love, Nature's 
Absolute Attribute, produced by the fusion 
of the forces of which the composing char- 
acters are sound-forms. When frequently re- 
peated together with the Love-Passion Seed 
word, its vibrations, after purifying the at- 
mosphere of the mind, illumine in time its 
inner chamber, the heart, which is the door of 
the soul, and fills it with the ecstasy of Bliss. 

The Tulsi plant is the most spiritual plant 
in the world, hence its leaf is the best medium 
for conveying prayers, especially when it is 
smeared with sandal-wood paste, the perfume 
of which is much like the aroma of the Lord's 
Body. 

But this morning worship is not all that the 

291 



SREE KRISHNA. 

householder Vaishnav performs to attain to 
the love of Krishna. He eats or drinks noth- 
ing without first offering it through some 
mystic formula to Krishna, and his food is 
pure vegetables, his drink is pure water. In 
the evening, he joins other Vaishnavs to talk 
of Krishna, hear of the sacred earthly acts of 
Krishna, sing of Krishna, and, when the spirit 
of song moves him, he dances with others in 
ecstasy. Besides these practices he repeats 
many thousand times the name of Krishna 
over his Tulsi rosary. In fact, he never 
misses any means or opportunity to keep alive 
an unbroken Krishna-consciousness, the result 
of which is that he enjoys the joy of Goloka 
here on earth in this earthly body. He is re- 
warded with the foretaste of what he seeks 
to enjoy after he lays down his physical body. 
This is enjoyed by the hermit Vaishnav, 
who generally lives in Brindaban, in a higher 
degree. He is unhampered by all the disturb- 
ances and difficulties of the householder, and 
so he devotes every moment he breathes to 
the service of his Krishna. He has renounced 
the world and with it all its thoughts. From 

292 



CHRISTIAN OF CHRISTIANS. 

the earliest morning up to very late at night 
he prays, chants, talks, hears, reads, sings and 
dances by turns. He eats but once and that 
very little, a few wee bits of unleavened 
bread begged from pious homes. His only 
world's goods are the scanty clothes on his 
body, his earthen water bowl and his volume of 
scriptures. He has made peace with the 
whole world by his humility. He has nothing 
but blessings for all, sincere blessings even in 
return for curses, and prostrates at full length 
prone to the ground before everyone. He 
follows the saying of the Lord Chaitanya that 
a Vaishnav should be lowlier than a blade of 
grass ; more forbearing and charitable than 
a tree, which spreads its shade and offers its 
fruits even to one who cuts down its branches ; 
should never seek respect for himself but pay 
respect even to those who are respected by 
none ; that a Vaishnav should at all times sing 
of Krishna. Thousands upon thousands of 
such Vaishnavs, both male and female, can 
be found to-day in the Holy Land of Brinda- 
ban and the Holy City of Nuddea, the birth- 
place of Chaitanya, whose Christ-spirit and 

293 



SREE KRISHNA, 

ecstatic life are unparalleled in the religious 
history of any other country, ancient or mod- 
ern. They represent demonstrated living 
proofs of the power of the Lord's Name upon 
the human mind. 



294 



SECTION XXIV. 

KRISHNA LEELA. 

This Krishna, the Lord of Absolute Love, the 
Seed and Soul of the Universe, comes down 
to this earth to serve and inspire men with 
His Love once in every Manwantara, once in 
every 71 Divine Cycles, that is, once in every 
300,000,000 of our lunar years or more. Every 
Universe, of His countless Universes, likewise 
has its turn of being blessed by His visit as 
an Incarnation, once in a long period. This 
Universe of ours is the smallest of these Uni- 
verses and its turn of Krishna's Incarnation 
comes off during the Junction Period of the 
Copper and Iron Ages of the 28th Divine 
Cycle of every Manwantara. This being the 
Iron Age of the 28th Divine Cycle of this 
Manwantara the Lord blessed this earth with 
His Personal Presence 5,000 years ago, His 
birth taking place within the appointed Junc- 
tion Period. 

Avatars that come to earth to save man- 

295 



SREE KRISHNA. 

kind and protect the good from the bad, the 
Srimad Bhdgavat says, are innumerable ; they 
are either partial manifestations or aspects of 
Vishnoo, "but Krishna is Lord God (Bha- 
gavan) Himself," the Supreme Deity of whom 
Vishnoo Himself is the Fourth Manifestation. 
Nobody knows exactly when Krishna will 
come, for even Brahma, the operating creator, 
knows it not. Brahma only sees him for a 
second once in a long while, flashing through 
his meditation like a lightning flash. When 
Krishna came this last time on earth with His 
Second Manifestation, Sankarsana (who was 
born as His Elder Brother, Balaram), the time 
was ripe for an incarnation of Vishnoo. But 
as the moon and stars are covered by the efful- 
gence of the Sun, the Avatar of Vishnoo could 
not appear separately, so he was merged in 
Krishna — the part was swallowed by the 
whole. 

The story of the earthly career of Krishna, 
given in the Second Part of this book, is the 
story of the All-Love Krishna of Braja. This 
All-Love Krishna was the Krishna of Brinda- 
ban, also called Braja, the land where He 

296 



KRISHNA LEELA. 

played and roamed, where He went through 
His earthly career up to the age of eleven 
when He left Brindaban for Mathura. The 
Krishna of Brindaban is the Fullest Mani- 
festation of Krishna, the Fullest Expression of 
His All-Love-Self. Hence the Krishna of 
Brindaban is called the Fullest Incarnation, 
which means All Krishna, the Krishna of All- 
Love. The Krishna of Mathura is called 
Fuller Krishna, which means three-quarters 
Krishna and one-quarter Vishnoo. And the 
Krishna of Dwaraka, half Krishna and half 
Vishnoo, is called Full Incarnation of Krishna. 

Krishna being All Love, He knows nothing 
but Love, gives and accepts nothing but Love, 
acts nothing but Love, breathes nothing but 
Love, speaks nothing but Love. 

The Asuras that He killed were not killed 
by Him, but by the Incarnation of Vishnoo 
which was within Him, and His part in those 
actions was to send the souls of those Asuras 
to His Absolute Love Realm, a reward re- 
served for His highest lovers and devotees, 
a kindness for enemies which Krishna alone 
can feel and show. Krishna has no power 
297 



SREE KRISHNA. 

even to hurt a fly, for He is nothing but Love 
Itself, and does not know anything else but 
Love. This much can be said about Krishna's 
participation in these what seemed to be acts 
of killing, that the powers of Vishnoo within 
Him that committed them, found His Body 
the most perfect medium for their operations. 
One word of explanation is necessary here 
as to who the Asuras were and how they could 
assume such shapes. These mentions of 
Asuras and demons in the Hindoo books preju- 
dice the unknowing and unthinking Western 
minds against the veracity of Hindoo histo- 
rians and incline them to think that ancient 
Hindoo history are mixed with myths and 
fables. A little calm and intelligent thinking 
ought to correct the mistakes of such hasty 
judgment. Modern science, too, is daily pav- 
ing the way to belief in things which even a 
quarter of a century ago were thought absurd 
and impossible. Science is proving the fact 
of the unlimited potentialities of the human 
mind. Mind-force is at present the subject of 
all the most advanced Western scientists and 
philosophers. When these will succeed in dis- 
298 



KRISHNA LEELA. 

covering the laws and truths of the mental 
plane, as they are now doing of the material 
plane, no facts of Hindoo history or of the 
histories of ancient times will strike modern 
man as mythical or absurd. 

The Asuras were the psychics of the ancient 
times. They cultivated their mind-force in 
order to use it for personal aggrandizement. 
They were Yogis, but their Yoga was divorced 
from pure spirituality, because their object was 
not spiritual. All they wanted was power by 
which to overpower others and keep them 
under subjection for their own earthly benefit. 
Some of them were exceptions to the rule; 
they cultivated their Sattwic powers to some 
extent along with the development of Rajasic 
powers. These became great heroes in battles 
and some of them made very good kings. 
Others developed merely Rajasic and Tamasic 
powers of the mind and became tyrants and 
oppressors of all good people. Wherever 
and whenever the earth groaned under the 
burden of their sins, partial incarnations of 
Vishnoo came down to earth to destroy them 
and bring peace and goodwill among mankind 

299 



SREE KRISHNA. 

once more. But those Asuras who had only 
their Tamasic (dark) mind-force developed, 
were the lowest of them all. Their minds 
were all dark and their deeds were all black, 
f Their natural inclination was to do mischief 
to people for the sake of the mischief itself. 
These were called demons. These demons can 
be found reborn among us all, in the most 
advanced centres of civilization, but they are 
now shorn of their former psychic force. The 
mind's natural inclination, however, is still in 
them. They take to external means to satisfy 
this inclination of killing or hurting or doing 
mischief for the sake of the act itself. For- 
merly their dark mental powers were their most 
potent weapons. Through those psychic 
powers they could transform themselves into 
any shape they concentrated upon, and if they 
failed to assume the form of a saint or a god, 
it was because they could not grasp the idea 
of the personality of such pure souls with 
their impure minds. To assume the form of 
a beast was the easiest thing for them, because 
they were nothing but human beasts in their 
nature. They could also assume elemental 

300 



KRISHNA LEELA. 

forms too, such as a whirlwind, etc., as in 
Krishna Leela. The modern Asuras cannot 
do any such thing because their mind-forces 
are scattered and distracted. The chief cause 
why people generally cannot be a high yogi or 
a black-psychic demon is the density of Raja 
and Tama that at present pervades Nature, of 
w T hich all beings are parts and products, which 
disturbs concentration. 

The holding of the hill on the point of the 
little finger of the left hand, as Krishna did, 
was not a very great deed for Krishna to per- 
form. This act can be performed by some 
of the Lords of Yoga. The Yogi, when he 
becomes an adept, inherits the partial attain- 
ment of the eight great powers (siddhis), 
which are in their fully normal states in Vish- 
noo and in lesser degree in these who remain 
merged in the Essence of Vishnoo and are 
sent therefrom to earth to serve mankind as 
Avatars. These powers are (i) Anima, the 
power of becoming as small as an atom; (2) 
Mahima, the power of becoming increased in 
size; (3) Laghima, the power of becoming as 
light as desired; (4) Prapti, to possess the 

301 



SREE KRISHNA. 

power of the gods who are the presiding deities 
of the senses ; (5) Prakamya, the power of en- 
joying and sensing all objects seen or unseen; 
(6) Ishita, or power over the forces of the 
Divine Will and over the lower forces of other 
beings; (7) Vasita, non-attachment to objects 
and (8) Kamavasayita, the power of attain- 
ing all desires. 

Besides these the high Yogi may attain to 
ten other powers of the Cardinal Attributes, 

(1) Cessation of hunger and thirst; (2) Hear- 
ing from a distance; (3) Seeing from a dis- 
tance; (4) Moving the body with the speed 
of the mind; (5) Assuming any form at will; 
(6) Entering into any other body; (7) Dying 
at will; (8) Playing with celestial damsels; 
(9) Attaining wished- for objects; (10) Power 
of irresistible command. 

Five other minor powers are (1) Know- 
ledge of the present, the past and the future ; 

(2) Control over the Opposites, such as heat 
and cold, joy and sorrow, etc. ; (3) Knowledge 
of another's mind ; (4) Suspending the action 
of fire, sun, water, poison, etc.; (5) Invincibil- 
ity. 

302 



KRISHNA LEELA. 

These powers serve the Lord in His Leelas 
as humble slaves, whether he is conscious of 
them or not. Leela means action of God In- 
carnate. The Rash Dance with the Gopis is 
the greatest Leela of Krishna. It was the 
manifestation of the greatest might of His 
Love, the might possessed by the Supreme 
Being alone, by the Lord of the Lords of 
Yoga, by the Supreme Source of Yoga itself. 
Gopi means a milkmaid. But the milkmaids 
of Braja were extraordinarily spiritual beings 
born as milkmaids to serve the Lord in His 
Earthy Leela. The chief of the Gopis is 
Radha, the Consort of Krishna in Glory and 
on earth. "Radha" means Adoration or Love- 
Devotion. Radha is the embodied manifesta- 
tion of Krishna's Love-Principle, the Energy 
of His Soul, the Principle in Krishna which 
sets His Love into motion. Radha is inside 
of Krishna as this Principle of Love-Energy 
and she is outside of Krishna as the embodi- 
ment of that Principle. Radha is the First 
Active Principle of Naure, the Active Love- 
Principle which unconsciously gives birth to 
creation and pervades it as the purest spirit- 

303 



SREE KRISHNA. 

ual energy. Like Krishna she is above and 
out of the reach of the creative Cardinal At- 
tributes. Krishna is the Soul. Radha is the 
Heart-Soul and her eight chief companions 
are the Eight chief Devotional Aspects, and 
the other Gopis the inclinations and minor 
attributes of Her Ensouled Mind. Radha and 
her chief companions are Krishna's constant 
companions in Goloka. They came with Him 
from Glory and were born as Gopis in Brinda- 
ban. Other Gopis who were in the Rash 
Dance were incarnations of Vedic Hymns and 
Truths which, as I have ere now explained 
in the cases of Nature's attributes and forces, 
are entities in Nature, the form-centres of 
Nature's purest sentiments and conceptions. 
Other Gopis were incarnations of goddesses, 
the presiding deities of Nature's spiritual 
forces and attributes, while others were in- 
carnations of some of the highest illuminated 
male Saints (Rishis) who had prayed for agt 
and ages in every birth to serve the Lord per- 
sonally with the tender devotion of a loving 
woman. The love of these Gopis for Krishna 
was absolutely selfless. They loved Him for 

304 



KRISHNA LEELA. 

the sake of the spontaneous, causeless love they 
felt for Him and which His Personality in- 
spired in them, for Krishna was that Causeless 
Love Itself. The Rash Dance represented the 
vibrations of the Soul-absorbed Mind, vibra- 
tions which filled the universe with the nectar 
of Bliss and destroyed its Karma of a whole 
Kalpa, the Karma which formed its Prarabhda 
for the time. 

Krishna danced separately with each Gopi. 
Each Gopi had her own Krishna beside her. 
One Krishna became as many as there were 
Gopis and yet it was the Self-Same Krishna. 
The One Soul played like So Many Souls 
with so many hearts and yet the hearts saw 
but that One Soul. Each Gopi saw only her 
own Krishna and was unconscious of any other, 
as she danced, absorbed in that Krishna, round 
and round, arms round necks, eyes into eyes, 
all-forgetting, the world forgot, round and 
round in the whirl of ecstasy, afloat on the 
waves of Love that is Bliss — round and round 
with that One Krishna, the All-in-All of the 
heart and existence — round and round, the 
lover and the loved, the little soul twining 

305 



SREE KRISHNA. 

round the Great Soul, the Gre^t Soul pouring 
Its Nectar into the little soul. 

Ignorant writers and prudish religionists of 
the West have dared to call this Gopi-Leela 
of Krishna shocking to all religious sense, in 
the face of the fact that two hundred and odd 
millions of Hindoos of the present day and 
myriads of millions of Hindoos of the past — 
Hindoos whose giant intellect and all-towering 
height of spirituality the world of to-day are 
beginning to wonder at — call this Leela the 
most transcendental of all Divine deeds that 
have ever been performed on the face of the 
globe. According to these little critics of the 
greatest Avatar of the Supreme Deity, that 
Supreme Deity cannot possess any other senti- 
ments of love than those of a Father and a 
Saviour, that God ought not to feel or show 
the love of a husband for his wife or of a 
lover for his lady-love. If this be a fact, will 
they answer the question as to whence has 
man got these sentiments, if not from his 
Maker of whom he is but an imperfect image ? 
Whence has he got them if not from the Source 
of Creation itself, of which he is such a tiny 

306 



KRISHNA LEELA. 

part and product? This denial to God of the 
possession of a lover's sentiment implies an 
impertinence which God alone, out of His in- 
finite affection for His creatures, can pardon. 
It only betrays the dense ignorance of these 
critics in regard to the origin and laws of 
creation and of the relations of creation with 
its Creator. 

Nature (Creation) is the materialized Will- 
Force of God. The Will-Force of God is a 
reflection of God Himself — the objectified 
phases of the semblance of manifoldness of the 
Absolute One. God is the husband, and the 
Energy of His Will, Nature, is His wife. God 
is the Lover and Nature is His loving Lady- 
love. By His All-pervading Essence, the only 
Support and Sustenance of Nature, He clasps 
His Lady-love to His bosom and dances with 
her to the intricate steps of the music of her 
Laws. This is His Rash Dance in the aggre- 
gate, the Rash Dance that is being performed 
every moment within Nature though hidden 
from our outlooking physical vision. What is 
true of the great Universe is true also of its 
miniature, man. Within our heart of heart 



SREE KRISHNA. 

is the forest of Brindaban in which the micro- 
scopic blue river of love, Jumna, flows, lap- 
ping with thrills of joy the bank of the bow- 
ery lawn where Krishna — our Soul — with His 
Gopis — our ensouled mental aspirations — is 
performing His ever-favorite, never-ending 
Rash Dance. And we are unconscious of it all, 
because our mind's outer ken is employed out- 
side of us with outer objects. If we can with- 
draw the mind's vision from outwards and 
direct it into the depth of our heart then will 
belief come in the Rash Dance of Krishna with 
its practical realization. We are then of Braja 
and each of us, of the enlightened inner eye, 
a dancing Gopi — male or female whatever we 
may be externallv. it matters not. We are all 
Gopis, human male or human female, we are 
all spiritually feminine, for Krishna alone is 
the One Male and we all, particles of. Nature, 
are all female. We are all the lady-loves, the 
brides and wives of our One Husband, Lover 
and Beloved — Krishna. In the working out 
of the ever-beneficial laws of Inner Nature — 
the laws that throb for the weal of mankind 
— this innermost performance of Nature's 
308 



KRISHNA LEELA. 

constant Rash Dance with her Lord is re- 
flected for a time upon her outer surface to fill 
outer Nature and mankind with the ecstasy 
of its supremest spirituality, the blessings of 
Absolute Love. 

The twelve chief boy-companions of Krish- 
na in Brindaban came with Him from Glory 
where they are His constant companions, 
while the other cow-boys were the incarnations 
of the gods and highly spiritual saints. The 
Kadamba-tree, under which Krishna usually 
played His flute, is a representation in physical 
form of the Tree of Life and the flute's dear 
strains the music of the soul. As Krishna and 
His Companions are constant, so are His Lee- 
las (acts) constant. They can be seen now by 
any devotee possessed of the requisite vision. 

With these words I humbly introduce the 
reader to the Nectar-Career of Krishna on 
earth embodied in the following pages. Let 
every reader read it with an open mind and the 
Nectar is sure to flow into his soul through 
that mind. 



309 



SREE KRISHNA 
THE LORD OF LOVE 

PART II. 



SREE KRISHNA 

THE LORD OF LOVE 



Baba Premanand Bharati 



PUBLISHED BY 



The Krishna Samaj 



NEW YORK 



Copyright 1904 
BABA PREMANAND BHARATI 



S. L. PARSONS & CO., PRINTERS, NEW YORK 




KRISHNA. 



To 

The Lotus Feet 

of 

KRISHNA MY BELOVED 

THIS GARLAND 

Woven With Flowers 

of 

HIS OWN GIFT 

Is Offered 

For The Appreciation Of 

THE SOULFUL 

Of His Creation 



PROEM. 

I bow to the Glorious One — the unerring- 
Mariner who has guided my frail life's bark 
across the billowy world-ocean wrapt in 
"Goo" — the darkness of ignorance — with 
the ever-illuminating. "Roo" — the search-light 
of wisdom — to the Land of the Lotus Feet 
of Krishna. I bow to Sree Brahmananda 
Bharati — my Gooroo. 

And now, hush ! list ! I sing of Krishna. I 
will sing of Krishna, the Lord of Love, the 
Seed and Soul of the Universe, the Ultimate 
Principle in the composition of Creation, of 
all souls' real Home — Sweet, Sweet Home ! 
I will sing of your only Lover, and your only 
Beloved. 

I wish to sing a song whose sweetness will 
thrill through your body, which will make 
your soul float in ecstasy. I will sing a song 
whose burden will enter your heart as a dew- 
drop enters the bosom of a flower, but will 



PROEM. 

soon, if you are attentive, spread itself into 
a boundless ocean on which your heart will 
be tossed over its gentle waves, like a boat 
bound for and sure of the land of Eternal 
Bliss. I as earnestly ask your blessing that 
I may be filled with such power to sing such 
a song, as I ask the blessing of my Krishna 
to sing of Him to you. 

I will sing a song of love such as you have 
never heard, such as poets dream not of, 
which lovers know not of, which the human 
soul is ever in quest of, which, in your best 
moments, vibrates undefined through your 
soul, but ever eludes your understanding.. I 
will sing of that Love which ever plays before 
your heart's vision as the will-o'-the-wisp 
through countless incarnations — a Love which 
alone will make you happy for evermore. 

I will sing a song to you of a Love # which 
you are striving every moment of your life 
to realize through success and failure in this 
life's games, the Love whose worthless coun- 
terfeits dazzle and deceive you at every step — 
at every step removing you farther and far- 
ther from the original they so poorly resemble. 

4 



PROEM. 

I will sing to you of the Love Absolute, the 
Love that is unbroken, the Love that is fed and 
grows by use, the Love that blesses the lover 
with greater abundance for giving it away to 
others. 

I will sing to you of a Love which is your 
birthright, which is the very foundation of 
your existence, which alone is the substance of 
all existences, and, wonder of wonders, a Love 
which is your real food and Home. 

Aye, it is of your Home that I will sing — 
the unknown pole to which the magnet of your 
soul eternally trembles. Llome is ever sweet 
— Home, Sweet Home ! But this your sweet 
earthly home is only the home of your earthly 
self, the brick-and-mortar closet of your 
fleshly coats, of which you have possessed a 
countless number. But all those coats have 
been mere coverings of your inner Self, which 
is a truant from its own Home, but of which 
it has lost all memory, having lived so long 
in others' homes. I will sing to you of a 
song whose burden will remind you of this 
lost and forgotten Home, the Llome that you 
are seeking in vain, consciously or uncon- 

5 



PROEM. 

sciously, the Home whose never-failing happi- 
ness you are trying to substitute in your 
borrowed home by ever-failing pleasures, 
pleasures which only pain you by their hollow- 
ness. How can you live upon a hollow happi- 
ness, you who have known and tasted solid, 
eternal happiness in your real Home? — the 
Home where light fades not, life grieves not, 
and happiness ever is ! I will sing to you of 
the Home where your Master, Friend, Father, 
and Lover is ever anxious to get you back 
and take you to His bosom. 

I will sing to you of Krishna — your Home 
— the Seed and Soul of your soul, as well as 
of the universe of which you are a miniature. 

And now, my beloved friend, prepare your- 
self to listen to this song which comes to you 
from across the oceans — from a land where 
the altar of the Lord of Love is ever burning, 
fed by the libations of devotion and the in- 
cense of ecstasy, since the dawn of creation, 
— from that cradle of religion and civilization, 
from that spiritual metropolis of the spiritual 
world-empire, where the fountain of Divine 
Love, Life and Wisdom is still playing, to 

6 



PROEM. 

water the earth with the blessings of the soul 
— the Land of Bharat, which you moderns 
call India. Listen and be blessed ! 

This is a song not set to any tune you 
know, to any music you have heard, and yet 
it is a song which is set in the true tune of 
your heart, to the natural music of your soul. 
It is the Song Ecstatic of your Heart-Soul 
which will make the core of your being throb 
in beatitude and melt the crusts of materiality 
in you into the Love Unspeakable! Listen 
and be blessed ! 



SREE KRISHNA 

THE LORD OF LOVE 

CHAPTER I. 

Weary and overburdened with its load of 
sorrow and weakness, the great heart of 
Mother Earth lifted her voice unto the heights 
of the skies, complaining. 

Her patience and faithfulness were qualities 
of wondrous worth to Brahma, the Creator/" 
and so, drawing aside the curtain from his 
abode, he looked into her soft and wearied 
eyes, saying: 

"O Mother Earth ! Long hath the pain of 
ingratitude and faithlessness pierced thy ten- 
der heart, and with courage and loving mercy 



*Brahma is the Creator of the details of the Uni- 
verse. The Supreme Creator is the Supreme Deity, 
Krishna. He creates by His Will. The inequi- 
librium of the three Cardinal Attributes (Sattwa, 
Raja, Tama, or Illumination, Activity and Obscura- 
tion) embodies the Creative Will of Krishna, as 
explained in the foregoing part of this book. This 
inequilibrium starts the current and force of Cre- 
ation. Vasudeva, as the manifestation and centre of 



SREE KRISHNA, 

hast thou borne its stings. But now a balm is 
to come unto thee and soothe thy wounded 
love and readjust those things of which thou 
dost complain. 

"Yet a little while, O thou Goddess of 
Plenty, and One shall play upon thy breast, 
which will make the veins of thy body to 



the first flush of Creation, springing from Krishna as 
a result of this loss of poise, is the Second Creator 
in whom the seed of Creation (unpoise of Attri- 
butes) dwells as an Unknown Feeling of differentia- 
tion. Sankarsana, who springs from Vasudeva, is 
the Third Creator, but acts only as the Unconscious 
Cause of Creation. Pradyumna, who springs from 
Sankarsana, carrying the Abstract Idea of Creation, 
is the Fourth Creator, the Semi-Conscious Cause of 
Creation. Aniruddha, born of Pradyumna as the 
Full-Conscious Cause, is the Fifth Creator. This 
Aniruddha is called Narayan and Vishnoo. From 
Him springs Brahma, the first sprout of Creation. 
He is the Sixth and the Operating Creator, called in 
the Hindoo Books the "Father of Creation," the 
"Grandfather of all God's creatures." Brahma's 
Abode is the Brahma Loka, otherwise called the 
Satya Loka or the Seventh Heaven, the Seventh 
from the Earth Sphere (First Heaven). 

Just over the Brahma Loka is the Vaikuntha 
Loka, the Abode of Vishnoo, the Abode of Salva- 
tion (Mnkti), where souls freed from the last bond- 
age of matter and its influence go for Rest and Re- 
ward. This Abode of Vishnoo is unapproachable 
even by the gods and the illumined souls who dwell 
on earth or in the Four Upper Heavens. Brahma 
alone by mediation can communicate with Vishnoo 
on any subject bearing on the^ welfare of Creation 
and receive a response from Flim who is the Outer 
Form of Krishna. 

' 10 



THE LORD OF LOVE. 

thrill with warm love, so that thy heart will 
be beautiful beyond what it yet has been. 

"Thy mountains shall laugh in great happi- 
ness on seeing the beauty of Him who shall 
cast His lotus eyes upon their rugged sides. 

"Thy rivers shall flow in rhapsodies when 
His Sweet Body shall sanctify their waves 
by its contact. 

"Thy harvests shall come forth in great 
plentifulness. 

'Thy cows 'shall give forth milk that shall 
be nourishing and healing unto all whom it 
will feed. 

"Thy trees shall cast forth shadows that 
all who come under their cooling shade, sick 
unto death, shall bound forth with the glad- 
ness of life and love in their bodies, and, O 
patient Earth, all who tread upon thee shall 
call thee blessed because the One All Beauti- 
ful shall have made thee blessed by His Holy 
Feet treading upon thee." 

Thus spake Brahma unto Mother Earth, 
who lowly laid again her dark head, and 
entering the Abode of Vishnoo, he said unto 
Him: 

ll 



SREE KRISHNA, 

"O Thou Mighty One! Well dost Thou 
know the grievance of her, the Patient One, 
who is dear unto us. Do Thou in Thy glory 
and majesty succor her, O Lord! 

"Let the Only One, the Lord of Love, the 
Sovereign of all the Universe, the Author of 
all that lives, again be born upon her surface, 
and so bring to her wilted breast the nectar of 
Love, that all who draw from her may again 
partake freshly of the love that is the life of 
all animate and inanimate. 

"This Thou do, O Wondrous and Most 
Beautiful One, and quicken again with love 
her heart and the hearts that beat against her 
breast, so that the eyes of those who have 
eyes, yet see not, may see. 

"Do Thou incarnate with Thyself those 
who have ever walked with Thee, and who 
may, even before the eyes of all, perform and 
live miracles of love. For, O Most High, full 
of stolid unbelief and fettered with the world 
have Thy children become, so that even she 
who erstwhile ever patient was has complain- 
ingly called unto me for help." 
12 



THE LORD OF LOVE. 

He, the Maker of all that is, forthwith 
spake : 

"So shall it be. Unto her who has held 
upon her lap all those who are mine and who 
hath come out of Me and who is also of Me, 
I shall be born. 

"And great shall be the rejoicing of her 
and my children who walk upon her surface. 

"From the heart of man the weight of stone 
shall be lifted and his eye shall be quickened 
with love, and I with my followers shall bring 
to them the ways and means that love doth 
know, and the whole known world shall again 
learn that I am Life and Love, that I the 
Creator of all things am, even unto the ant 
and the huge elephant who by one blow of 
his mighty trunk uprooteth the tree. 

"They shall also know Me as Child, Son, 
Warrior, King, and Priest, and in their midst 
I shall walk even with those who with Me 
shall be born again, and seeing Me and know- 
ing Me, I shall draw all unto Me, and close 
with Me they shall again taste the sweetness 
of my love. 

13 



SREE KRISHNA, 

"With Me shall come those who have ever 
known Me through many incarnations, those 
who cover themselves with the qualities most 
like unto Me and whom my Earth-children 
have learned to look upon as gods, praying 
to them because of these attributes which 
they themselves wished to be blessed withal. 

"Tell those who know the fulness of my 
Bliss, those who have bathed in the nectar of 
my Love, those who have dwelt in the ecstasy 
of my loveliness, and those who in their 
devotion have known nothing outside of Me, 
those who have ever seen Me in all things, 
and have feasted their minds only upon My 
Beauty — tell them that I with them shall 
be born of woman and shall dwell for the 
span of man's life among men." 

And when the Gods, those whom He had 
designated, heard the Will of Him, great was 
the rejoicing in that Abode, for no Will knew 
they, save the Sweet Will of the Most Lovely 
One, whose Lotus Feet they worshipped in 
ecstasy. 



14 



CHAPTER II. 

In the seat of Hari, the sacred city of 
Mathura on the Jumna, Vasudeva in love and 
humbleness took unto himself Devaki as bride, 
who by all was known as the most holy and 
virtuous maiden of that land. 

Dear unto the heart of her brother, the 
Prince of Mathura, .she was, and beloved 
among his people and among all women be- 
cause of the purity of her heart and the sweet- 
ness of her face. To show to all the world 
his love for her, the prince himself, in proud 
fondness, drove the marriage-car of his little 
sister princess and the new brother-in-law, 
who, by right of great wisdom, a Pundit of 
high standing among the learned was. 

Gentle was the new bridegroom, even as he 
was wise. Fond glances of love he cast upon 
the radiant face of the young princess, and 
from all sides the blessings fell from the lips 
of the populace on the sweet bride, the learned 

15 



SREE KRISHNA, 

bridegroom, and the gallant prince who held 
the reins because of his love for them both. 

But lo! in the span of a moment all was 
changed, for a voice there was which seemed 
to come out of space: "O thou fool! Why, 
even she for whom in pride and love thou 
dost hold the reins to her marriage-car, even 
she shall bear the child in her womb who 
shall sweep thy life from off the earth. Her 
son, the eighth, shall be the cause of thy 
death." 

The reins dropped from the hands of the 
prince, and, springing to his feet, he caught 
the young bride by the hair as if to slay her, 
but was arrested by Vasudeva, who cried, 
"O prince ! Noble wast thou ever, and ill would 
it be for thee to slay thy sister on the eve of 
her marriage. It is not for thee to take life, 
O King, thou who canst not give it. Death 
must come, but let it not be by thy hand, 
O prince, nor yet before her time. Take not 
the life of her who is thy sister and thereby 
stain the heritage of virtue such as has been 
ascribed unto thee. 

16 



THE LORD OF LOVE. 

"Listen to the words of wisdom that have 
come to us from the sages, without whom 
all life a desert would be. Well thou knowest 
that a man's actions do follow him from 
body to body even as in walking he leaveth 
the imprint of each step behind the other, 
yet with each step doth he carry the dust on 
his feet from the ground whereon he did walk. 

"Man hath many existences, each one por- 
traying a character which is the outcome of 
his past self. As the present is the fulfilment 
of the threatening past, so man is the unfold- 
ment and fulfilment of his previous existences. 

"So seek not to blacken thy soul by the 
slaying of one of thine own blood, but seek 
rather to add new glory to thy light by pre- 
serving her who, all guiltless, thou dost seek 
to slay. Heap not thou upon thyself a dark 
and evil Karma to confront thee and blight 
thee in thy other lives. 

"It is but the chill breath of suspicion and 
the dread tremor of fear that surges heavy 
and dark through thy mind. Be warned by 
me, O prince; desist from thy unjust act and 
speedily thy heart shall glow again, warmed 

17 



SREE KRISHNA, 

by the embers of hope. A man too fearful 
of threatening danger, in torment of that dan- 
ger ever dwelleth. Even calamity may be 
turned aside by the smile of distrust, arid 
fatality may forget thee quite while passing 
thy door. 

"But when the soil of thy heart has been 
made fertile for fear, be sure its seed therein 
will thrive, finding sustenance for sprouting 
and its fruit it will bear. 

" Stand valiant, O prince, and be not like 
the timorous woman who runneth away from 
the shadow of danger but to flee into the arms 
of the foe. Thy Karma that counteth up the 
reckonings cannot be cheated. So be not, 
O prince, of timid heart; and each son that 
cometh from the womb of thy sister, Devaki, 
shall be given to thee/' 

Listening to the wise counsels of Vasudeva, 
the prince gave over his mad desire to slay his 
sister with his own hand, and the newly 
wedded ones proceeded to the home of Vasu- 
deva. 



18 



CHAPTER III. 

True to his promise, Vasudeva brought unto 
the prince his first-born, a son. 

The prince, on seeing that Vasudeva was 
true to his compact to deliver his son as it was 
born, gave it back, saying: "It is not this 
son that I fear, but he who will be born thine 
eighth one it is ordained shall slay me. So 
take back thy first-born, Vasudeva. Of him 
there is naught to fear/' 

Vasudeva took the little one, and putting it 
in the glad arms of the young mother, said : 
"O princess! It is with joy and yet w T ith 
great foreboding that I return to thee the 
babe, for there is that in my heart which tells 
me that the prince, thy brother, spoke not 
the truth when thy boy he gave back unto 
me, for fear lodged in his eye and anger 
vibrated in his voice even as he said, 'From 
thy first-born no harm will come unto me.' 

19 



SREE KRISHNA, 

Yet clasp him to thy heart, young mother, and 
bathe him in thy glad tears of love while he 
resteth on thy breast." 

But even while the tender young mother 
crooned her love-songs to her soft nestling, 
the cruel edict went forth that the babe was 
to be taken from her, as also each new-born 
man-child that came into the land, for, as a 
blighting flash from the clouds that strikes 
the healthy young, sapling at the root, there had 
come to Kangsa's fear-burdened mind the 
knowledge that in his former birth he had 
been dethroned and slain by one of his own 
kin, who was said to have come from on high 
even to still the power of the wicked and exalt 
the lowly and virtuous. 

This in all its weight had come into his 
heart, and louder than the bolts of thunder 
the voice he had heard on Devaki's wedding- 
day seemed to throb in his brain, as he saw 
Vasudeva depart with his first-born son. And 
great were the lamentations of the mothers 
who gave birth unto sons in that land. Many 
departed from the kingdom where Kangsa, 
the destroyer of the young, did rule. 
20 






THE LORD OF LOVE. 

But when the wailing of the new-born child 
was no longer heard in all that kingdom, the 
prince in his madness deposed his father, 
Ugrasen, and became himself the King and 
thrust Devaki, his sister, and Vasudeva into 
the dungeon of his palace, where the six sons 
that were born to them were dashed to death 
on the flagged floor in the hour of their com- 
ing by Kangsa himself. 

And now again there was quickening in the 
womb of Devaki, and the joy of natural 
motherhood was overshadowed by the terror 
of the fate of the new life that was to be a 
babe. But groundless was the fear of the 
agonized mother, for his coming was even 
before his time; for the earth sent a mist 
thick as the garment of death to shroud the 
palace of the King, and a deep sleep on the 
gaolers fell on the hour that the child of 
premature birth felt the breath of earth, and 
drowned were its first weak wails by the sound 
of the winds that shrieked without. 

And the child that came to the world too 
soon, even before his time was completed, 
was despatched in great haste to one who 



SREE KRISHNA, 

suckled him and called him her own. The 
child that by the near hand of love was saved 
from the hand of frenzied murder was the 
child that would walk with the Lord of Love 
and play with the Soul of the Universe. 

And when the mists were gone, the King 
marvelled that no child had come, while the 
mother marvelled at the goodness of Him who 
was the Author of Life. 



22 



CHAPTER IV. 

Now the time was ready for Hari (Krishna) 
to come to be born and dwell upon earth. 

His sweet will it was to be as a man and 
show man the beauty of Love. It was then 
that Devaki again conceived and a mother 
unto the eighth child would be. 

But lo ! fear now to her was unknown and 
glory shone around her like the sun filling 
the darkened dungeon with light, for the 
Lord of all Light in her mind did come, 
and Him as a child to the world she would 
bring. She, who the mother many times of 
sorrow was, now the mother of joy had 
become. 

O blessed art thou, wife Devaki, that the 
sweet will of the Lord of all Love and All 
Life was centred on thee when he willed as a 
child among men to come ! And thou, poor 
mother, whose heart was made to bleed for 

23 



SREE KRISHNA, 

the bearing of sons, henceforth an ocean of 
love shalt become, for throbs not under thy 
heart the pulse of Him who, love-touched, 
love-filled, and love-made, pervades all lives 
and all that ever will live ? 

And in that hour barren women, as a gra- 
cious boon of the Lord's coming into Devaki's 
womb, conceived to their own overjoyful 
surprise. 

And when Kangsa beheld the glory of her 
who was his sister, he knew that Hari, He 
who would quench his life, w T as within her. 

But when he sought to strike her low, the 
glow of the light that came from her over- 
awed him quite and the steel refused to reach 
her flesh ; and many gaolers were sent unto 
her by the king to slay, but when they looked 
upon her glory, lo ! their hearts were quick- 
ened with love, and holy they became, and, 
dropping their weapons, fled from her side 
and in meditation and prayer sought the light 
that showed them their darkness. 

And the seers and sages and gods and pun- 
dits and angels that see, with illumined eyes of 
the spirit, the things that were and are and 
24 



THE LORD OF LOVE. 

the things that still will come, beheld the 
light that glorified the mother even though 
distance and mortar hid her from fleshly view, 
for the eyes that are quickened by spirit cog- 
nize not the sight of the senses. 

And, prostrating low, salutations they gave 
to the Lord of the Universe that became child 
in the mother : 

"O Thou, the Eye of the Universe that sees 
all, the all-hearing Ear, the Heart that draweth 
unto itself all that sprang from Thee ! 

"Thou, the Seed and Soul that hath in its 
centre the roots of all space and all that space 
containeth ! 

"Thou, the Source of all Love, the Exist- 
ence of all Life, the Dispenser of all Light, the 
Mystery of all Wisdom, who, self-created, 
chose not to dwell alone, but willed creation 
to be and from whose breath all living crea- 
tures sprang ! 

"O Thou, who suffered darkness to be, that 
beauty of light may be known! Thou, who 
by Thy own sweet will dost thrust Thy own 
children forth a little but to draw them unto 

25 



SREE KRISHNA, 

Thy heart again to heighten Thy pleasure and 
theirs ! 

"We, Thy blinded children, illumined, were 
made to see the light of Thy coming to earth. 
Thou, the Mystery and yet the Revelation of 
all things art! 

"Thou, that which hideth from man all 
things that he accounteth not to Thy sweet 
will and revealeth all unto him who sifteth 
each act to Thy source ! 

"Thou, who attunest the ear to the sound 
of all harmony and keepest Thy Worlds and 
All Life in motion ! 

"Thou, who art the Immensity of All 
Things ! We know that even as a man Thou 
art come in our midst. 

"O Thou the Source of all Energy that is, 
Thou the Vibrations of all joy that thrilleth 
through all Life ! 

"Thou Maker of all, who by Thy coming 
dost lift us even unto Thyself, again who by 
Thy coming will show the vileness of Self 
which unlike Thee is, and how sin doth darken 
where virtue is ! 

"Thy power, O King of all Kingdoms, is 

36 • 



THE LORD OF LOVE. 

boundless. Oh! why are we blessed with the 
truth of Thy coming, we the blinded whom 
Thou hast chosen to honor ?" 

Thus spoke the 'sages, the pundits and seers, 
the gods and Brahma, the Creator Himself, 
whom the Lord of Love had blessed with the 
power to know of His coming. 



27 



CHAPTER V. 

And the child was come, the child that was 
God, the God that became child, and time 
itself stood still in its passing to mark the 
wonder of that coming! 

The clouds ceased their onward sailing and 
crowded in piles of white and blue and gray 
softness, to marvel at the child's first smile. 

The heavens rained down blossoms of white 
and red and golden and blue lotuses. 

The mountains gave forth a great cry of 
joy, as they in gladness met. 

The rivers heaved their billowy crests and 
chanted hymns of praise to Him, who was 
to make holy again their waters. 

The earth throbbed and thrilled as the 
streams of holy Love shot through all her 
body, swelling 'her breast with new life and 
feeding all that was living and moving within 
the recesses of her bowels, and clothing with 
38 



THE LORD OF LOVE. 

great beauty that which lived upon her 
bosom. 

The roots of growing things grasped with 
a firmer hold her sides, and her loved crea- 
tures, those that walked and those that crept 
upon her surface, nestled once more, as of 
yore, when all the world was holy, against her 
freshened and strengthened body with new 
affection and faithfulness, and her great heart 
uttered a mighty thanksgiving to Him who 
had heard her appeal and succored her. 

The seeds that were in her mouth burst into 
rooting, the roots into sprouting, and the 
budding trees, that graced her brow, dnto glad 
blossoms. 

And the trees that were in blossom bore ripe 
fruit in the hour of His coming. 

x\nd all those that hungered were fed. 

The cows, big with young, dropped their 
calves, and their bags were full unto bursting 
for all that came to take sustenance there- 
from. 

The motherless cubs of wild things fear- 
lessly suckled from her udder, and the cow 

29 



SREE KRISHNA, 

lapped the soft, furred sides of the young 
stranger with her long, rough tongue. 

And all the wild things that hungered were 
fed in that hour. 

The eagle left its nest on the mountain's 
rugged side, and sat on the tree with quivering 
wing beside the dove, that cooed its inward 
shout of love. 

The snake forgot to charm the timid song- 
ster that thrilled its joy close by, but, lifting 
up its hooded head, it madly danced between 
the sunshine and the shadow that the exultant 
branches of swaying trees did cast. 

The huge elephant sportive became, and 
played with the deer and doe that rubbed 
against its haunches. 

The fierce lion, the leopard, and all the un- 
tamed creatures of the forests, with yearning 
call of love, turned their faces towards the 
place, all light, where Love, as a little child 
was cradled in the arms of man. 

And in the hour of His coming many rain- 
bows of wondrous color and beauty did span 
the skies. And the sun liquid as molten love 
became. 

30 



THE LORD OF LOVE. 

And in that hour man and beast, and bird 
and flower, and all that lives upon the earth 
and underneath its surface and in the deep 
waters, did look into the abode of Love. 

And on the face of earth the smile of Love 
did rest, and sin vanished from the heart of 
man, even as hunger disappeareth where plen- 
tiful food is dished to the hungered. 

The eye of the murderer looked for dark- 
ened places wherein to hide himself, but, find- 
ing naught but light, did throw his blade into 
the purified waters of the holy river and knelt 
at the feet of the holy ones, who in ecstasy 
were wrapt. 

The gray and shrunken face of avarice 
lifted itself toward the skies, and lo ! glorified 
the countenance became! 

The face of bloated folly, the weakness of 
vanity, the vileness of ingratitude, the stub- 
bornness of unbelief in that hour were un- 
known to man. 

A joy, unfelt before, on all the earth did 
reign, a joy that even yet doth thrill through 
hearts of life, for the child that was God, and 

31 



SREE KRISHNA, 

the God that was child, had come on earth to 
live with man. 



32 



CHAPTER VI. 

And the child that was the Lord spoke to 
the mother in the hour of His coming as the 
Sovereign of all Sovereignty would speak: 

"Say unto him, Vasudeva, thy husband, to 
transport me to where the wife of the King 
Nanda doth lie, who but now giveth birth to 
a daughter. 

"Pass through the gates; the chains shall 
be loosened, the keepers asleep at their posts. 

"The warring waters of the Jumna a path 
shall make for him to pass with Me in his 
arms. The gates of the palace on the banks of 
the river wide open shall stand, and the 
mother asleep in her chamber shall be. 

"Put Me on her breast, and bear away the 
daughter that to her is born. And when the 
prince shall ask Vasudeva for the eighth child 
that is born unto thee, do thou deliver the 
daughter of Yasoda unto him." 

33 



SREE KRISHNA, 

Thus spake the Lord, and a helpless child 
He became. 

Vasudeva in wonder passed through the 
gates ; the keepers all slept a sleep as of death. 
The waters parted to make a way for him 
who carried the Lord to pass. 

Unseen, unheard, he entered the courtyard 
and palace and passed the sounding halls and 
corridors, until the room of the sleeping queen 
he spied, and taking the Lord from under his 
cloak, on the breast of the sleeping queen he 
laid it, and took in his place the wide-eyed 
daughter, that cooed and smiled in his bearded 
face. 

And sleep still held the queen and the city 
and the gaolers embraced, till he stood at the 
side of Devaki once more, who wept at the 
sight of the smiling babe, who soon at the 
hand of her brother must perish. 

At break of day, the prince entered the 
dungeon to seek the life of the eighth child of 
his sister. 

As he lifted the child on high to dash its 
head on the flagged floor, lo ! the child slipped 
from his hand and rose,, the while speaking: 

34 



THE LORD OF LOVE. 

"Karma, that counteth all reckonings up, 
cannot be cheated by thee, O prince! Tis 
written that thou must be slain by the eighth 
son of thy sister, and so it shall be. 

"That child I am not, O prince! But I 
came on earth for this hour, to show thee thy 
folly. Dost thou think, O fool, that by human 
force, by the slaying of innocence, by the 
destroying of hope and joy in the heart of 
the mother, thou canst change the Will of Him 
who is the Maker of all laws ? 

"Thinkest thou, O man, thou canst cross 
swords with Him that knoweth the effect of 
each thought that man thinketh, even before 
the thinking is done ? 

"He whom thou seekest thou shalt not 
find!" 

She ceased, and a light never seen on earth 
or in heaven enveloped the child as she van- 
ished from view. 

And the prince rushed forth in his frenzy 
and madness and sought not again to bring 
harm to his sister, but unfettered the chains 
were of husband and wife, and in freedom 
forth they went. 

35 



CHAPTER VII. 

And the child that was God as Krishna was 
known. 

And men drew love from the Name, for 
the Name the potency of Love contained, even 
as the seed the tree doth hold, or the bud the 
fruit of the tree enfolds. 

And all who spoke the Name of Krishna 
felt the heart beat quick and high, and all who 
looked upon His face felt at once that Love 
was nigh. 

And it came about that all the people who 
lived in the kingdom where the Child Krishna 
was reared as the son of the King of Braja, 
thronged daily to get but a glimpse of the 
Child, who, though helpless like other babes 
did seem, yet held the power to draw all men 
unto Him, even by the light of love that 
made Him All Beauty. 

As He sat on the arms of the queen, His 
foster-mother, bedecked with the ornaments 

so 



THE LORD OF LOVE. 

and finery which the king delighted to bedeck 
Him withal, lo, the light that radiated from 
His flesh did put the glowing jewels to shame, 
for love is the essence of Beauty and Light, 
and the Child was the embodiment of Love 
itself ! 

So the light that flashed from the jewels 
was but as the light of glow-worms that dis- 
appeared when the radiance of the moon is 
about them. 

In despair the king sent messages to all the 
then known world to procure such jewels as 
might enhance the loveliness of his Child, 
but ever when on His body they rested, dull 
they seemed on the glow of His flesh. 

But oft the Child would reach His baby 
hands for the flowers that the populace brought 
in great profusion to lay at the feet of the 
Child that was Love, and as He held them 
close to His baby mouth, behold, their petals 
quivered and throbbed with love-life, and 
deeper the color dyed their softness and 
brighter the gold of their hearts did flame, 
at the touch of the hand and the breath of the 
Child that knew naught but Love. 



SREE KRISHNA, 

And in the days when Lave as a Child did 
dwell on earth, a great force of spirituality 
through all the land went forth, and the 
heart of all the world went up in praise for 
the mercies linked with ecstasy that enriched 
the cup of all Life. 

Gleams of kindness, and deeds of generosity, 
and miracles of patience, and justice, and love, 
unheard of before, now naturally burst from 
the heart of man, as water bursts forth from 
a spring 'neath the rock. 

And the fields, that before were dried and 
burned by the sun's rays even as stubble, 
gave forth rich harvests. 

And the rivers and seas that were lost to 
man's eyes, again in beauty before them 
rested. 

And the Child that was the stalk and stem 
of Love in beauty did grow, shedding His 
gracious smile on all the world. 

And Kangsa, the King, now heard of the 
marvellous Child whose smile brought a 
smile on all the world. 



38 






CHAPTER VIII. 

Then Kangsa, the brother of Devaki, besought 
the demoness Putana, mother of evil, to give 
each child in arms the milk of her breast, 
that should fill them with death at the sucking. 

And forth she did go, and prayed to be taken 
into the palace of the king, to behold the 
young Child whose face gave blessing to all 
who on it looked. 

On her coming, the Child stretched forth 
its arms to be taken to her breast, but when 
her breast between His lips He took, she bent 
her face to look at the Babe, and fear made 
her pale and faint, for in the beauty of His eye 
the wisdom of all the world she beheld. 

And releasing the Master she held at her 
breast, she pleaded and prayed that He cease 
His sucking, but harder He drew and firmer 
His grip was, till exhausted and lifeless she 
fell on the ground, while with a smile the Babe 

39 



SREE KRISHNA, 

played with the breast and crept on the body 
that lay in death. 

And when they came from far and wide to 
look at her who brought destruction and 
death to children, they beheld her swelled and 
stretched to immensity. 

For smiling evil seemeth not big, but rob 
it of the smile that hideth its leer, and huge 
and misshapen it doth become. 

So with Putana it was. Forth she went to 
mother and suckle the young, children and 
thus bring death to the Child of Love. Clothed 
in sweet motherhood and kindness of purpose, 
all hearts were opened to welcome her freely, 
yet evil she brought wherever she walked. 

But He who was All Love at once sighted 
her hatred for love, by that which in her all 
unlike Himself was, and straightway in her 
poverty of Love and nakedness of heart she 
stood revealed in His eyes. 

And all saw her thus^hideous and unsightly, 
and marvelled at the blindness of their eyes. 

But mark now the kindness and power of 
Love. 

By the touch _of His lips upon her breast, 

40 



THE LORD OF LOVE. 

she, who never knew love, by contact with 
Him became sanctified. And the effort Putana 
put forth to bring death to Krishna, under 
cover of Love, did make her for the moment 
a mother in truth. And for that moment of 
concentrated love in Him the honor of Divine 
Motherhood on her was bestowed in that realm 
where hate is unknown. And all the world 
marvelled, when dead she lay, at the aroma 
that rose from her huge body. 

But the Child only smiled as He played on 
her breast. 

Verily the aroma of great sweetness reached 
to all the skies. For Love is ever the master 
of hate, and Love in its strength doth conquer 
all hate, and hate is purified by the breath of 
Love, and sanctified it is by its hand. 



41 



CHAPTER IX. 

A year has passed since the coming of 
Krishna, a year of peace and plenty to all. 

And the earth was relieved of pressure, and 
the minds of men were illumined by the light; 
that shone in their midst. 

And the hearts that were cramped and nar- 
row with pain grew big into bursting with 
the love that flowed from the Child that was 
God. 

And Nanda prepared a great feast for the 
naming of Him and the Brother, Devaki's sev- 
enth child who, at birth premature, had been 
despatched to the land where Krishna now 
was. And the feast was attended by many 
guests, who rejoiced on beholding the won- 
drous Child who on that day a year had 
brought joy by His coming. 

And the priest was called and the seer, and 
he who read the stars and read the Vedas 
alike. And when the stars he contemplated, 

42 






THE LORD OF LOVE. 

he saw the wonder of His birth, and, pros- 
trating at the feet of Him, spoke to them who 
gathered to hear: "The oppressed He shall 
succor, the enslaved He shall free, and those 
that in danger are He will protect, and bring 
all blessings to the land where now He doth 
live. What and Who He is you know not, 
but, crowned with living stars of Love and 
adorned with the rainbow of promise on His 
breast, this Child shall bring glory and Bliss 
wherever He breathes. Oh, blessed was the 
day I looked in His eyes and touched my hand 
to His Holy Feet, for in Him the virtues and 
powers and might of Love do dwell that never 
before men with eyes have seen." 

But the little Child smiled, then stretched 
forth Its arms and puckered Its lips for the 
mother's sweet milk. 

The mother in pride placed It at the side 
of the cart that held brass vessels and articles 
of food, and turned to receive the congratu- 
lations of her guests, when lo ! the Child with 
Its baby foot upturned the cart, and the cart 
and the vessels in pieces lay on the ground! 
And more and more they marvelled at the 

43 



SREE KRISHNA, 

Child, whose baby strength upturned the cart. 

Nor was this the only miracle of His baby- 
hood. For one day the mother sat with the 
Child in her lap, when lo and behold, so 
heavy He became that she felt as if the world 
were resting on her knees ! 

The strength of her knees gave way and 
the Child sank to the ground, when a whirl- 
wind came, in the shape of a dust-storm, and 
raised the Child to heights unseemable, but 
soon again lightly on His feet He descended 
at the side of His mother. 

Wildly she clasped Him in her arms and 
kissed Him again, but He opened His baby 
mouth to her eyes, and lo, the universe she 
saw within! 

And in that moment unto her it was revealed 
that He, whom she called her son, was God — 
the Seed and Soul of the Universe; the One 
who all things knew, yet who was unknow- 
able to all. 

She also knew that the shadow He cast by 
His gr,eat, universal Will was Maya, and the 
offsprings or attributes of that Maya as de- 
mons were known. 

44 






THE LORD OF LOVE. 

And she knew that a demon it was, urged 
on by Kangsa, that came in the shape of a 
whirlwind to carry her Child away. And 
that He who was all Love was mightier by 
far than the offspring of shadow could be. 

And thus the power of darkness again by 
Love was overthrown ! All this she saw in 
the space of a moment, and salutations she 
made to her Lord. 

But the Child only smiled and the mother 
again saw but her Child. For how could the 
woman, who suckled the babe, dwell long on 
her Child and know Him as her Lord? 



45 



CHAPTER X. 

Thus the childhood of Krishna was full of 
what were considered wonderful miracles by 
His family and the populace, but which, to 
the Lord of the Universe, were but divinely 
natural. The strength of the baby hands was 
colossal. The beauty of the baby face was 
entrancing.^ 

His flesl- gave forth a lustre^and radiance 
that filled a darkened room with glory. The 
wisdom that peered from His wondrous eyes 
was full of loving mystery, and the touch of 
His breath brought to the heart a love that 
was ecstasy. 

O Babe, that came to a desert of life, to 
make it a garden of lilies and roses ! O Babe, 
that brought to a weakened heart the Love 
that conquered the world by its might! 

O Babe, that came with a light on Thy 
brow that filled the eye like the glow of the 
sun, and brought on Thy breath the promise 

46 



THE LORD OF LOVE. 

of Bliss which came to all those who breathed 
where Thou dwelt! 

All these Thou wert, yet a helpless babe in 
the arms of those who reared Thee Thou 
lay! 

And naughty Thou wert and full of mis- 
chief, too, stealing the golden butter, that stood 
in shining rows, the pride of the dairymaids, 
the Gopis, and feeding the same to the saucy 
monkeys, that crowded around Thee, to help 
Thee in Thy pranks ! 

Oh, wonder of Love and Might, Incom- 
prehensible One! Thou Omnipotence, who 
the all-pervading energy of all art, and yet, 
with eyes aslant, didst play the child to suit 
Thine only sweet fancy, and in the midst of 
men didst come to teach men Love and save 
the world that was, steeped in sin ! Thou who 
wert Lord of the Lords of Yoga, this Thy 
Yoga-power did startle the world when in it 
Thou wert as a child ! 

On one occasion the Child became impatient 
and fretful, because the mother failed to 
suckle Him at His cry, and running amidst the 
pots and churns where she had been working 

47 



SREE KRISHNA, 

the butter, He cast them down to the earth, 
breaking them into pieces and dividing the 
sweet butter with the pets that followed the 
Child wherever He went* 

The mother, on being told of His mischief, 
sought to punish Him by tying Him with a 
cord to the husking-stand that stood near by. 

The cord lacked two inches in its reach to 
the bench; more cord she sought, and fasten- 
ing it end to end, found still the two inches 
missing. 

Cord after cord she added thereto, but she 
could not make the two ends reach. 

Amazed and startled she gazed at the Child, 
her hair dishevelled, her face flushed with 
excitement, a great fear looking from her eye, 
for what was this miracle, that prevented her 
from spanning the reach of two inches ? 

The Child, on seeing the troubled face of 
His mother, allowed himself to be fastened. 

And thus in disgrace he stood for a time, 
till two trees in the distance attracted His 
eye, and walking away in the reach of the 
cords and drawing the husking-stand behind 
Him, He stood between two huge arjuna 

43 






THE LORD OF LOVE. 

trees and, casting the cord about the trees, 
He tore them up by the roots. 

Down they came with a crash to the ground, 
carrying with them all that was in their way. 
And lo ! from the trees two fiery spirits ap- 
peared, and saluting the Child, they prayed 
and disappeared in a cloud of light. 

For list! in the days of yore, when the 
Saint Narada walked the earth, he passed the 
stream where maid and youth made merry in 
the waves. 

At the passing by of the Saint, the youths 
failed to salute him, but instead in bold arro- 
gance laughed and called unto him, and rev- 
erence had they none. 

In the heart of the Saint a prayer arose, 
that the youths who knew not respect towards 
the saints that walked on earth to make men 
holy, should be reborn as trees, yet as trees 
to remember their past offence and dwell on 
the folly thereof. But the Saint also prayed 
that when He who was God came on earth, 
He would remember the trees and sanctify 
and free them by His Love-touch. 

So when the Babe's eye spied the trees, He 

49 



SREE KRISHNA, 

uprooted them both, to make good that prayer. 
And by His touch the souls of the youths into 
high heavens did rise, while He, the Child, 
the great Deliverer of all souls that are born, 
looked on and smiled, and the populace won- 
dered at the fall of the trees, and marvelled 
how the Child had been saved from death as 
they crashed down beside him. 

Blinded ones, who know not Love in its 
mightiness and nearness! 

Again, one day, little Krishna, romping 
with the playfulness of His earth years, heard 
the weak voice of a woman begging to sell her 
wares of fruits. Lean were her hands and 
shrunken her features, and her clothes were 
poor and thin because of the length of time 
they had been worn. Faint and quivering 
the voice reached the ear of Krishna. 

With the glance of Love that warmed her 
heart, He bounded to her side, asking for 
fruits and giving her paddy instead, when lo! 
at the touch of His hand the face of the woman 
beamed with the light of beauty, her voice as 
with joy rang out, and her basket was heavy 

50 



THE LORD OF LOVE. 

and filled with gems that blazed and glittered 
in the noonday sun. 

And laughing, the Child ran to his play- 
mates and pets and divided the fruits with 
them all. 






51 



CHAPTER XI. 

Now came a time when the oldest and wisest 
of the populace of the kingdom where Krishna 
was reared bethought it best to take the won- 
derful Child from the place where men mar- 
velled at the wonder of Him and came from 
far to look on His face. 

And anxiety filled the hearts of the people, 
who loved Him best, for His safety, as calam- 
ity upon calamity came nigh Him; and 
though no harm as yet did betide Him, yet was 
it only a miracle that saved Him from the 
child-killer, Putana. 

And again only the hand of Vishnoo had 
rescued Him from the fierce whirling dust- 
storm, and the turning of the cart at his side, 
and, last, the two trees that crashed at His 
feet, yet touched not a hair of His beautiful 
head. 






THE LORD OF LOVE. 

Yes, best by far it was to take away the 
Child. So reasoned the elders, and Nanda 
approved, and forth they went with attendants 
and friends and all who lived in Gokula. 

And a caravan they formed, the cowherds 
driving the cows and calves before them, and 
carts bearing the women and children, and 
the men beating the drums to the voices of the 
women that broke forth in glad hopefulness. 

And bright was the sky that spanned their 
heads, and rich the forests through which 
they passed, and life-giving the sun was, and 
refreshing the winds were that greeted them 
on the way to Brindaban. 

And in the early days of their sojourn in 
these rich forests' depths, tents they erected 
which soon were overspread with creepers 
that abounded in that place, and birds came 
near and nested in the tendrils, and the wild 
hare and shy deer nearer and nearer their new 
friends came, till, all tamed they would feed 
from the hands of the Gopis and played with 
the children ; and thus in peace and serenity 
they lived in Brindaban. 

Brindaban, the Land of Love and Holiness, 



SREE KRISHNA, 

the land where Krishna laughed and played, 
the land that the centre became of all spirit- 
uality, because of His sojourn there. 

An ordinary boy, he walked with the boys, 
as tender of cows and calves. 

And in a little while the city of Brindaban 
thrived, and a city of plenty it was to all who 
therein lived. 

But as time went on, even here the dread 
calamities seemed to follow the boy Krishna. 
For an Asura, sent by Kangsa, assumed the 
form of a calf, and strayed among the calves, 
hoping thus to elude the eye of the Child and 
perhaps take Him unawares. 

But hardly had he mixed with the herds 
when Krishna pointed him out and strode to 
where the calf was grazing. With easy grace 
He lifted him by the hind legs and twirled him 
high in the air, till lifeless the Asura was. 

Then, 'midst the shouts of the cowherd boys 
and companions, He lifted His face to the 
skies, which opened wide to His smiling eye. 



54 



CHAPTER XII. 

In the morn of summer, early, even before the 
sun yet bathed the world with its golden 
warmth, the companions of Krishna, aroused 
from their slumber by the lowing of the cows, 
would gather about the house of Nanda and 
wait for Krishna to come from His bed and 
go with them to the forest to tend the cows 
and while away the sweet hours of long sum- 
mer days with sporting and tales and long 
rambles together. 

And oft, as they waited about the gates of 
the palace, Yasoda would speak to the waiting 
boys : 

"Ye children ! my Krishna has ^ not yet 
opened His eyes to the light of the day; His 
sleep is sound, nor will I wake Him, till of 
His own will He comes from His bed; so go 
with the cows and leave Him to me." 

But the boys would not stir, but would still 
wait His coming. 

55 



SREE KRISHNA, 

But the joy left their eyes, because of their 
longing to look at the Boy who was Love. 

And loud were the cries that came from the 
boys as they saw Him approaching and then 
come in their midst, and He with the boys as 
a boy would be. 

And oft Yasoda, the mother, who reared 
Him, would take Him aside and remonstrate 
with Him thus: "O my Krishna, my son, 
why wilt Thou thus spend Thy time with the 
cows and the cowherds? A Son of the King 
art Thou, O my boy, and Thy place is not there 
with the cows in the pastures. Many servants 
have we to see to the herds. Come, take Thou 
Thy flute, bedeck thyself with garments and 
ornaments as it doth behoove my son and a 
prince." 

Then Krishna, twining His arms round the 
neck of His mother, with a world of glowing 
love in His visage, would gaze far away into 
the heart of His people and reply to her who 
knew Him as son : 

"O mother beloved! Well it is for Me, a 
son of a king, with the people to be; though 

56 



THE LORD OF LOVE. 

of the palace, yet is My place there where the 
people call unto Me. 

"A Tender am I of the Flock, O My mother, 
and to them I must go, with them must I be 
to teach them Myself and the Power of Love. 

"Even now must I go to the calling hearts, 
who madly seek Me and will not be satisfied 
till again Me they see." 

And Yasoda, the Mother, in amazement 
gazed on the face of her son and understood 
not His prattle that such wisdom held, but the 
tears of fond pride rose to her eyes, as she saw 
the love that came from the boy and enveloped 
Him as a soft cloud of light. 

And she kissed her son, seeing but in Him 
a merry little child bounding and throbbing 
with victorious health. 

Onward He ran to greet His companions, 
who were satisfied now as they beheld His 
coming, and laughing the group went to the 
forest. 

They played, burying their bare feet in the 
mosses, rolling in the sweet grass, clapping 
their hands in the fulness of joy, and shout- 
ing in very ecstasy of being. 

57 



SREE KRISHNA, 

Never saw they in Him the son of a King. 
They knew Him but as a cowherd boy who, 
like them, tended the cows in pastures and 
forests. 



33 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Again the cowherds, including Krishna, went 
with their cows to give them drink, and also 
to quench their own great thirst. Sporting on 
the banks of the lake, they suddenly saw a 
monster crane coming towards them, with 
great flapping wings. 

Affrighted they turned, all but Krishna, to 
flee, but ere a moment had passed, the huge 
bird had devoured Krishna. 

But only an instant *He was lost to sight, 
for before the boys knew what calamity had 
come upon them, the bird in great haste gave 
up the prey that brought to his throat the sen- 
sation of burning. For when Krishna entered 
his body it was as if liquid fire poured all 
through him. 

Then seeing Krishna again in the midst of 
the boys, lo, with the beak and the talon he 
again made for Him, but Krishna seized the 

59 



SREE KRISHNA, 

beak with His hands and ripped the great body 
in halves, even as women tear in half fine linen 
which requires no effort, and the demon was 
again allayed. 

Again it happened that the boys with 
Krishna sought the forests, in sport to engage. 

While bounding in frolicsome play, they 
beheld at a distance a huge serpent stretched 
forth in its length, like a range of hills. Wide 
open its mouth was, and close to the path of 
the boys it lay. 

In an instant within it they walked, all but 
Krishna, who contemplated the monster, with 
eyes full of power ; then straight into its jaws 
He too went. 

But now the hideous serpent writhed in pain 
and, like monstrous bellows, its great sides 
heaved; for Krishna had expanded within its 
throat, till it expired, shaking all the earth in 
its throes of death. 

And the boys laughed in glee as out of the 
great jaws of the serpent they walked. 

But Krishna lifted His eyes to the sky and 
illumined all the heavens became. For the 
Dispenser of all Light destroyed the evil that 



THE LORD OF LOVE, 

sought to reign in that land where Love dwelt, 
and with mighty strength He felled the feeble 
hands of Evil to the ground. For, where 
Krishna was, illumination was and darkness 
could not draw life. 

The deadly shade of Sin sought to blight 
and blast the garden where Truth bloomed fair 
and tall ; but so ripe with Love it was that it 
could not on that soil take root, to create its 
evil nor yet prevent the good. For the 
Knower of all that is knowable saw with His 
all-seeing eye the spirit of every stress and 
storm and laid it low ere its brewing began. 

And thus His blessing gave increase to 
plenty, and virtue it added unto good, and unto 
them that loved in that realm of Love, stones 
were as bread, and wormwood as sweetness 
was. 

Evil is sin and hateful to Love. And 
Krishna had the longing and the power He 
wielded to save His world from the pestilent 
blast of the sin that in boldness sought to 
destroy it. 

As Love He came, the Maker of Man and 
of the Universe, to rescue man, His creation, 
from the rottenness of his own doings. 

61 



CHAPTER XIV. 

And Brahma, the Creator, witnessed the 
miracles that Krishna, the Child and the 
Youth, was performing hourly at His plays 
and gambols, and marvelled if He the child 
might be that was come to succour Mother 
Earth in her trial. 

Surely sometime, somewhere, in some place 
it was said that the All-Wise Being, that was 
over all, as a little child would be born among 
men to save them from their blinded selves 
and turn them Godward, looking towards 
Home. 

This he knew had been said. Was this 
child the One, that the Eternity was — He, 
the Rememberer of all Beings and Things? 

He would know it in proving the power of 
His Yoga! For if this were the Absolute 
Lord, He alone would be the Lord of the 
Lords of all Yogis ! 

62 



THE LORD OF LOVE. 

Krishna, sitting with his boys in the forest, 
discovered that the herds had disappeared from 
their sight. 

On seeing the alarm on the face of His 
friends, Krishna exclaimed, "I Myself shall 
fetch back the cows, so be not anxious, eat to 
your fill of the fruit you are munching." 

He searched and called, but the cows were 
as vanished, and returning again to His play- 
mates He found they too were missing. 

Then a smile, as the sun doth break through 
the clouds, shone on His face, and, with Yoga- 
Maya, He divided Himself into cowboys and 
cows and even into calves, and He Himself 
leading them who were of Him, the All — He 
returned with the cows and the boys to the 
village ! 

But, mark, when the boys, that were parts 
of Krishna, Love-Manifest, ran to the arms of 
their mothers, a thrill that was ecstasy played 
through their beings, and never did mothers 
love so their sons as the mothers who held to 
their hearts the boys whom by His power He 
had made from Himself! 

63 



SREE KRISHNA, 

And so it was with the cows and the calves. 
Those who milked the cows were wild with joy 
to stroke their hides and feed them, and milk 
of those cows as nectar was. 

And Krishna stood with the cowboys among 
the cows and smiled in His wisdom at them all. 

Now Brahma knew that the boy was the 
Lord, who as child to man had come, for by 
his Yoga-power he had taken the cows and 
calves and boys to a cavern and there put them 
to sleep. 

But Krishna, to prove Himself the greatest 
in power, had divided Himself into boys, 
cows, and calves, and for one year had been 
'thus. 

When Brahma saw this, from trance-sleep 
he awoke the sleepers, and bowing low to the 
feet of Krishna, salutation made and thus did 
burst forth : "O Lord of all Love ! O Being 
Supreme ! O Source of all Life and Maker 
of All ! Oft in the eyes of my Yoga, glimpses 
of Thee have I caught and Thy loveliness and 
majesty transcend all beauty. 

"What is the merit of the earth, that Thou 
shouldst bless it with Thy beautiful feet? 

64 



The lord of love. 

"I have looked upon the earth and have seen 
Thy Love in all things, but I perceived not 
that Thou in Thy mercy wouldst live among 
men, even as man. 

"Through Thy coming each heart, that a 
hovel in poorness was, into a palace of riches 
has grown. 

"Through Thy coming all flesh its grossness 
has lost, since to the eyes of man Thou seem- 
ingly walkest in the flesh. 

"Thou who the centre of Thy radiance art, 
yet walkest within that radiance! What is 
the mystery of Thy great Self? 

"Thou who teachest the bird to cleave the 
sky and hath made me the creater of earth and 
continuest the motion thereof ! 

"Thou who the Concrete art and yet the 
Abstraction thereof dost prove! 

"Thou Mystery of all mysteries, the Secret, 
the indistinct and yet the sublimely simple 
Parent of the Universe ! 

"Thou who art the whole and yet the parts, 
the immensity and yet the mote of things! 

"A poor groveller am I at Thy feet in the 

65 



SREE KRISHNA, 

dust! Why hast Thou blessed me to know 
Thee thus? 

"Thou art the ocean of existence, and 
Saints and Gods and men and all Thy crea- 
tures are hut the uncounted waves that play 
and stretch and heave on Thy breast ! 

"From Thy abode hast Thou come of Thine 
own sweet will to give unto all the power of 
Thy Love. 

"Dull were my eyes to behold not in Thee 
the Lord, who stamped on all things the Name 
of his Love and with the Name its potency too. 

"O Thou all Beauty and Power and Sweet- 
ness and Strength ! refuse me not the bliss to 
dwell in homage at Thy feet ! 

"Thou, who art the cause of all things, who 
stirrest the root and stem of all life into love, 
who art the indestructible Truth of things, 
Thee I meditate and worship forever." 



66 



CHAPTER XV. 

In the glad land of Brindaban, the land where 
Love reigned supreme, because of the pres- 
ence of Him who was Love Personified, who 
was Love Incarnate and who as a Boy did 
bless the world with His Being. 

In that land, 'mid childish sport and glad- 
some frolic, Krishna grew into beauty of 
youth. 

Day by day the land became more beautiful 
in the joyous springtime, and one day His 
brother Rama, he whose growing was beauti- 
ful, and who, like Krishna, was marvelled at 
for the wonder of his doings, said unto 
Krishna : 

"Does not the smell of the forest invite Thee, 
O brother? Even here the air is heavy with 
ripeness of the fruit, that the sweet spring-air 
hath brought us. Shall we not go and pluck 
from the trees and eat our fill of the fruits that 

67 



I 



SREE KRISHNA, 

are dropping on the ground in luxuriousness 
but to become rotten ?" 

"Gladly would we go/' said the other boys, 
"but we fear Dhenuka, of the demon family, 
who dwelleth close thereby. It is said that he 
hath taken the form of an ass and though 
he seemeth harmless, yet hath he much power 
for evil, which he wieldeth mightily, when he 
hath a chance to do so. So, though we would 
gladly partake of the fallen fruit, yet do we 
fear him. But what sayest Thou, Krishna? 
Thou canst, if Thou wilt, destroy all who are 
filled with hate and evil. Wilt Thou and 
Rama use your strength to proect us?" 

"Let us away," quoth Krishna, and in a few 
moments, heated and full of laughter, the boys 
were shaking the trees for the golden-sided 
fruit, which seemed to smile upon them in its 
beauty of ripeness. 

But at the first sound of happiness that 
reached the ears of the ass, he rushed in the 
midst of the youngsters and sought to destroy 
them, making Rama and Krishna the special 
objects upon which to vent his hatred and 
strength. 

68 



THE LORD OF LOVE. 

For a time both boys dodged hither and 
thither, trying to turn aside the anger of the 
ass ; but seeing that it would not be appeased, 
Rama caught him by the hind legs and after 
swinging him over the heads of the boys a few 
times, he dashed his head against the tree and 
proceeded to aid the boys in picking the fruit. 

The braying of the ass had brought forth 
the kith and kin of the Asura, who dwelt in 
the forests with him ; but they, too, in a brief 
struggle were killed by Rama and Krishna. 



69 



CHAPTER XVI. 

In those days, when Love was predominant 
and held no place for that which overcame and 
destroyed that which could not hold sway 
there, because when love is strong and active, 
then doth evil become feeble and weak and 
slinketh away into darkness and deep places, 
where the light of love cannot reach it to reveal 
its blackness unto the light of the sky. 

In the river, on whose bank Krishna, Rama 
and the cowherd boys often sat and sang the 
deeds of their hero, there dwelt a huge serpent 
monster with a thousand hoods, who by the 
venom of his hideous body did permeate the 
water of the lake with deadly poison and filled 
the air of the vicinity with a pestilent atmos- 
phere that was deadly in its influence. 

Krishna one day led the boys and cows to 
this pool, and they, being athirst, drank of the 
deadly water that lay still and without a ripple. 
Ever is evil inviting in its outward calm. 

70 



THE LORD OF LOVE. 

But lo! in an instant, the thousand-headed 
monster lifted its hoods, and the deadly poison 
having done its ghastly work, the boys and" 
cows lay on the bank lifeless, and motionless 
they fell at the feet of Krishna. 

With a glance of life-giving Love cast upon 
the dead ones, Krishna walked to a tree that 
was close by, while the boys, alive again, in 
amazement and wonder gazed at each other, 
forgetting, in the joy of the Love in the look 
that Krishna had cast upon them, the moment 
before. 

On reaching the top of the tree, Krishna 
stood for an instant and gazed at the boys, 
His world and the serpent, and a light as of 
molten gold seemed to come from that body, 
more lovely than the sun to look upon. 

Thus it was for a moment, then into the 
deadly pool he plunged, while the thousand 
heads of the serpent darted their venomous 
tongues and struck the body till the boys fell 
into unconsciousness and the cows groaned in 
pain, and the men and women, with eyes bulg- 
ing w T ith fear and tearing their hair, almost 
swooned at the sight of the boy, who was God, 

n 



SREE KRISHNA, 

crushed in the poisonous embrace of the mon- 
ster; yet, even as stricken with horror, they 
gazed. 

Krishna a glance like light on them cast, 
and breaking away from the grasp of the mon- 
ster, He lightly sprang upon its hooded head 
and danced like the stars upon its hoods, till 
one by one low they were laid; and vomiting 
blood that was thick and black, defeated and 
broken, the monster sank beneath the waves. 

And with a bound Krishna stood in the 
midst of His friends who knelt at His feet. 
Then they drew Him within their arms, in the 
madness of joy at His safety. 



72 



CHAPTER XVII. 

Oh, grand was the sight of Love, crushing out 
Hate from the land, and the Gods sang and 
shouted and crowded together to see Sin con- 
quered and Virtue grow strong ! 

Yasoda and Nanda, with the Gopas and 
Gopis maddened with delight, took Krishna 
home, while the heavens opened and scattered 
flowers to carpet His path. 

And forever the lake was free from the 
venom the serpent had cast, and the near-by 
atmosphere purified was from the pestilent in- 
fluence that hovered about there. For the 
monster at Krishna's command had departed 
and sought no more to injure the land. 

But so great was the happiness that over- 
flowed the heart of all, in leading the boy 
triumphant through the forest, that they tar- 
ried awhile in the glow of the moon, in their 
joy to behold the beauty that filled the night. 
73 



SREE KRISHNA, 

But far in the distance a light was seen that 
spread wider and broader its glow, and higher 
its flame leapt, and every second nearer and 
nearer yet it came, like a living sheet of fire. 

And so it was. A castor plantation a burn- 
ing world had become and quickly surrounded 
the merrymakers, who held in their midst the 
joy of their hour, and they cried in a fright: 
"O Krishna, Thou Child — or God, whatever 
Thou art, protect us from this death in this 
roaring flame. We care not for our lives, O 
Krishna, for they are thine by our love for 
Thee, but oh, the anguish the parting would 
mean — to die and not see Thy face again ! Oh 
Thou, who by Thy strength dost slay the 
Asuras and drive from the land the serpent all 
powerful, save us from this, the parting with 
Thee and Thy loved companion Rama, he that 
is most like Thee. O Most Lovely One, de- 
liver us, we pray !" 

Light as a leaf in the wind the Boy bounded 

to meet the coming flames. For a moment 

He stood in the seething sea of fire and lifted 

His hand on high, and lo, the fire was not — 

74 



THE LORD OF LOVE. 

but the flames were seen to enter His mouth ! 
And again, with dancing and singing praise 
to the Boy, they made for His home with joy 
and delight. 



#5 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

One summer day Krishna and Rama and their 
companions in the shade of the trees were 
a-sporting among themselves, when they saw 
coming toward them a stranger, a boy, clad as 
a tender of cows. 

He joined in the games and soon all were 
merry, but Krishna, the knower of all, and the 
all-seeing One, in him beheld an Asura, named 
Pralamba, who had come in their midst to 
bring calamity, though friendship he feigned. 

Krishna proposed a game to be played by 
dividing the boys into equal numbers and fight- 
ing, in sport, one with the other. Krishna was 
chosen the leader on one side and Rama the 
leader on the other. 

The defeated side, it was proposed, must 
carry on their backs the winners of the vic- 
torious side, and so the play began. 

Krishna's side was defeated, and it was 

76 

* 



THE LORD OF LOVE. 

ordered that, among others,* Pralamba, the 
Asura, carry Rama on his back. 

Away went the boys, each defeated one car- 
rying on his back a winner. 

Suddenly the boys heard Rama's voice 
shouting to them, and behold, the Asura, by 
black magic power, a giant had become and 
was flying through the forest with Rama on 
his back ! 

Krishna looked at them, then shouted to 
Rama: "Brother, forget not that Thou art 
Vishnoo and that I am here \" 

In an instant all fear left the heart of Rama, 
and remembering who and what he was, he 
was filled with Almighty power and felled the 
giant with a heavy blow ; and the play went on 
as before. 

Another time the cows strayed into the for- 
ests and were overtaken by a great conflagra- 
tion, and like wild beasts they leaped and bel- 
lowed through the forest. 

The boys followed and called, but onward 
the cows plunged, nor heeded their voices, till 
Krishna's voice they heard ; then turning they 
gathered about Him, seeing naught but the 

77 



SREE KRISHNA, 

love and power iji His eyes. For the brute is 
ever stilled by the might of Love ; unlike man 
it knoweth its power and yieldeth to its force. 
But the boys still turned towards Krishna, 
full of fear of the conflagration that threatened 
to envelop them. He looked at them all, and 
their fear was allayed. Then He gazed at the 
fire and asked* the boys their eyes to close. 
This they did, and when they looked again, 
the flames were no more to be seen. 

Such was the Yoga-power of Sree Krishna, 
and the boys seeing His wonderful acts knew 
that Krishna was more than boy. 

And joyous were they and gathered flowers 
and leaves that grew in great abundance at the 
foot of the trees, and they all wove them into 
garlands of white, purple, and red, and wound 
them about Krishna's neck, and also bedecked 
each other with flowers and threw wreaths 
about the cows' necks and the calves' and 
homeward they wended their way in the twi- 
light, just as the sun was sinking to rest. 

The birds ceased their sleepy chirp and 
opened their eyes wide, and sleep left the 
flowers that nodded near the roadside, and the 

78 



THE LORD OF LOVE. 

sun stood in space a moment to watch the pro- 
cession that galloped down the road. 

Krishna, the Beautiful, came in the lead, 
bedecked and beflowered. The spirit of life 
He was, with a transfiguring glory in His face, 
and His eyes full of softness and love-light, 
His body all graceful in curves to behold, yet 
strong in the vigor of youth, that shone 
through its grace. 

With His hands on the necks of His two 
favorite cows, those who ever followed Him 
about as a child, the white on His right side, 
the black on His left, homeward they ran, while 
the white dust arose and covered and caressed 
them ; one after the other, each bedecked with 
garlands, and each boy between two cows, who 
like them were wreathed with wild flowers. 

And the elder Gopis and Gopas held their 
breath at the sight, so entrancing, that reached 
their eyes at the home-coming of the boys and 
their cows, bedecked and beflowered with the 
sweet wild flowers, and headed by Him whom 
they loved. 



79 



CHAPTER XIX. 

Thus spring ripened into summer and autumn, 
and again the rolling seasons touched upon the 
heels of one another; and Krishna grew into 
greater beauty with each season of His earthly 
career. 

More and more the people of Brindaban be- 
came absorbed in Him. The young and old, 
those near and far, looked upon Him as one 
without whom they could not exist. 

And so it was, the complete whole was He 
of whom they were but parts, and ever were 
they reaching to again find the Heart out of 
which they had sprung. 

His smile was to them the sun that warmed, 
His words the flowers which filled them with 
joy, His deeds the fruits which satisfied the 
hunger of their hearts. 

The very quick of their lives He was; and 
nothing lived, breathed, bloomed, or grew in 
Brindaban, from the people to the cattle, creep- 

80 



THE LORD OF LOVE. 

ing things and all that grew, that did not draw 
life from the Lord that dwelt as Youth among 
them. 

And the milk-maids, who in loving com- 
panionship oft with him roamed to the hillside 
where with the other boys he tended the cattle, 
would in fond love contemplate the Youth, 
knowing not what the potency was that drew 
them, forgetful of all duties, to His side. 

And among themselves they would speak 
thus : "Oh, how sweet is the hillside, when 
Krishna is near, how sublime is His coun- 
tenance and His eyes how beautiful w T ith pierc- 
ing love-light filled! Serene doth He stand, 
yet bewilderingly entrancing is the joy that 
comes to our souls by His glances that seek us 
in softness and kindness." 

"Was aught as beautiful," they were wont 
to say, "as our Krishna, clothed in blue and 
gold, with the crown of peacock feathers on 
His brow and a garland of fresh flowers fes- 
tooned from His shoulders? Why is it, that 
flowers that girdle Him thus never fade or 
wither or die, but deeper their colors and 
stronger their petals and sweeter their fra- 
81 



SREE KRISHNA, 

grance are, when in contact with Him they 
have come ? And the fields where He walketh, 
see how they smile and give their treasures in 
greater abundance ! And the rivers close by, 
they rise high on our land, as if to dwell longer 
on our banks, because our Krishna is here. 

"At the notes of his flute, all exquisite, whose 
potent spell must charm all the living, see how 
His cattle do greet Him and tremble and thrill 
at the sound of the music ! And even the un- 
tamed things of the forest, with wistful look 
and nostrils spread, unbidden and unafraid, 
do stand on the crest of the hill, as if drawn 
and subdued by the influence of His love- 
sound ! 

"Oh, the sound of His flute is proof against 
the iron-moulded mind and can soothe a very 
giant of fierceness into gentleness by its sweet- 
ness! Checked is every fear, and rebellion is 
laid low in every heart, and a kingdom of love 
every home becomes wherein that sound hath 
pierced. Ofttimes it seemeth that time itself 
doth suit its step to keep pace with its rhythm, 
for, note ye not, how the sun doth stand, loath 
to move, lest the sight and sound it loseth ? 

82 



THE LORD OF LOVE. 

"Oh, why are we not the flute He holds to 
His lips ! Blessed beyond all things it is, for 
His kisses it receives, and drinks the nectar of 
His love to its fill. What wonder that it joys 
to give the sound forth that His breath doth 
make ! 

"Or, why are we not the trees, under which 
He sitteth and whose branches He counteth 
with happy gaze, or even the grass, where He 
reclineth, that hath the dear privilege to caress 
His sweet body in lowly love? But we can 
only look on His face and die with longing, 
when from Him we go." 

Thus spake the maids, but their tongues 
could not tell what bliss overflowed the heart, 
welling up with love for Him, who wakened 
in every heart the love that was all divine, 
— from the babe's first smile to the man who 
looked first on the glorious earth, and then to 
the arched sky, and then in His heart, and 
found there a sum of love that was all bliss. 

In Krishna, the Youth, who played the flute 
in the forests by night, on the hillside by day, 
in Him, who charmed all that was, they beheld 
the fulness of Love. 

33 



SREE KRISHNA, 

He gave them and received all bliss. He 
was the Spring of Love that had the more for 
the giving. He satisfied the most when many 
did draw from His well-spring. 

To the heart of all mothers He came as a 
child, and in tenderness and joy they caressed 
Him as such. Like a flower dropped untouched 
from heaven they held Him. 

The men He approached as a friend and a 
son, and gave and received the love that they 
craved and felt. 

The servant too He met in the way He 
sought to be known, and by Him he was served 
and did serve. 

Thus to all He gave what they craved to 
have. Unstinted, unfettered He was in the 
giving, and none was there in all that land 
that sought and could not find what their hearts 
did seek. 

And to the maids who opened their pure 
young hearts for the all-enduring mysterious 
love, He g*ave, of His inexhaustible source, the 
sweet touch that harmonized all things and 
made the heaven and earth to meet. 

All kindred were they, for He was their 

84 






THE LORD OF LOVE. 

Parent, and their love was but part of His holy 
flame. 

And with the light from that flame there 
awakened within them that which knew but 
Love, which was but Love ; and Krishna it 
was who filled all their being, and outward 
consciousness to them was lost. 

Hail to thy maiden-love, O Gopi ! Thy love 
the triumph of man and God ! The crown of 
Time's blessedness it was ! O climax of Hap- 
piness Complete! 



85 



CHAPTER XX. 

When the days of fasting came, the Gopis, as 
the Scriptures commanded, began their wor- 
ship by taking their baths in the sacred river 
Jumna. 

O happy waves, more holy made by the 
maids, who stood in prayers in thy beds and 
threw on thy bosom the sweetest flowers that 
grew where Krishna's feet had fallen! 

Thus they worshipped each day for a month 
in the early morn ere the sun was seen, singing 
on their way the songs of love and praise for 
Krishna, who was the first and the last and 
middle of all their day. 

One morning whilst sporting and singing in 
the clear cooling waters, they beheld on the 
limbs of a tree close by the youth Krishna, 
enthroned in its branches and holding their 
wearing apparel in His hands. 

Crowned as usual with flowers was He, but a 
look all majestic was in His eye. 

86 



THE LORD OF LOVE. 

Affrighted with shame they begged for their 
garments, but Krishna replied: "Come and 
get your garments either in a body or singly, 
O damsels, and salute to the sun shining over 
My head as near you approach." 

For a moment they hesitated; then that 
which as a shadow had crossed their heart, 
and is known as shame, departed from them, 
and saluting forward they came in a body led 
by Radha, the loveliest and chiefest of the 
milk-maids, and dripping and lovely before 
Him they stood. Completely they had surren- 
dered their human will to the will of Him who 
was Divinity. 

Selfless, unyoked from all that was worldly, 
before Him they stood. Uncovered and free 
as they came from His Heart, again on that 
Heart they gazed unashamed, for their souls 
were not covered with vice, or with piety, or 
even with virtue, but were bare as the Love 
upon which they looked. 

They received the garments that He for them 
had. He, Krishna, the source of pure Love 
was, and His garments to them were spiritual 
purity, and clothing themselves with the 

87 



SREE KRISHNA, 

clothes of His giving, they joyfully went to 
the homes of their fathers. 

While Krishna, surveying His world, was 
enthroned in His kingdom of Love, and as the 
Gopis came to the feet of Him, who was the 
author of all Love, so all must come empty 
and free from all earthly desires to accept that 
Love for Love's sake. 

For naught cared the Gopis but Krishna, 
desiring naught else beside ! So only can Love 
Absolute be gained in absolute self-surrender. 

He who would have that Love that is its own 
enjoyment, that Love that a universe unto 
itself is, doth not find it easy to obtain it by 
merit of piety or even the fruition of highest 
spirituality. 

The bounds of all spirituality it must pass 
to become the Absolute and Causeless Love. 
Where spirituality ends, there causeless Love 
doth begin! 

All love that hath a cause is of earth ! Love 
that hath even a high spiritual cause is limited 
in scope, and such love may vanish when its 
cause is removed. 

88 






THE LORD OF LOVE. 

But the Love that is Causeless, All Endur- 
ing is. 

It fadeth not, neither doth it pass away, but 
by day and by night and throughout all time 
it waketh and accumulateth ever, for it is the 
Love Absolute ! 

From the souls of the Gopis the last trace 
of heaven and earth had vanished, and being 
resplendent with the glory of this Love Abso- 
lute, of the Love that was unto itself substance 
and satisfaction, was the causeless cause for 
this Gift of all gifts from the hand of Him 
who alone could bestow it and alone was that 
Love Itself. 



89 



CHAPTER XXL 

The summer sun beat down fiercely upon the 
Gopas and the cattle, when Krishna turned to 
them, saying: 

"See the wonder of these trees ! Kind, be- 
yond expression, are they. They ask for 
naught, but what the earth, sky, and sun, the 
night and day give unto them ; yet in all loyalty 
they grow and give shade unto us, and unto all 
that wish to partake of their shade. 

"Their fruits also do they give and their bark 
and leaves and juices, to all who desire it. 

"So should man also be, but few are there 
among men that live but to bestow blessings 
upon others. 

"Yet unto you, I say: O my loved com- 
panions, only unto them that give of their 
abundance to all that come within their radius, 
unto them alone is life a blessing and not a 
curse. 

"All men are placed here not of their own 
90 



THE LORD OF LOVE. 

free will, not yet unto themselves, but by the 
will of Love and for others. 

"And only as the law of give and take is 
set in operation among men, is man living a 
natural life. 

"Ofttimes doth the man wonder why he is 
unto himself a huge perplexity. 

"It is only when he forgets his relationship 
to all mankind that his life a riddle is, and 
this being so, he comprehendeth not the 
Maker of himself nor the universe, and failing 
to do so, how can he know life aright ?" 

After sporting among themselves, the boys 
spoke to Krishna, saying: 

"O Krishna! a-hungered are we; where, oh 
where shall we find food? Canst Thou not 
assist us?" 

And Krishna answered them, saying: "Go 
thou yonder where many Brahmans are per- 
forming religious ceremonies ; go to them and 
in My name say unto them to supply us with 
food. Say unto them that Krishna is wanting, 
and ask them therefor." 

The boys went; but when they delivered 
unto them the message of Krishna, the Brah- 

91 



SREE KRISHNA. 

mans answered not, neither gave them the food 
they wished, but proceeded with the cere- 
monies that were to give them the taste of 
Heaven, after the breath had left their bodies. 

Tired and half famished the boys returned 
unto Krishna and told Him of their failure to 
obtain food and also of the indifference with 
which the Brahmans had received His message. 

Then Krishna smiled wisely and told them 
to hurry to the wives of the Brahmans. He 
knowing that women are ever devotional and 
have illumination, while ofttimes men in dark- 
ness are. 

And so it was. On hearing Krishna's re- 
quest, they themselves hastened to Him, in 
spite of the protestations and threats of the 
men of the families, and brought food of the 
finest sorts unto Him, and prostrating them- 
selves before Him, spake: "O Krishna! 
Thou Maker of all there is ! Blessed are we 
and ours that Thou hast called upon us to 
serve Thee! We know Thee, O Krishna, as 
one greater and nearer to us than our husbands, 
brothers and fathers ; and even at the risk of 
their displeasure to us, we come to Thee to 

92 






THE LORD OF LOVE. 

lay at Thy feet our poor offerings and our 
hearts." 

Krishna answered: "O women! Noble 
and true are ye to Me. Ye in your devotions 
have learned to know Me as your soul! 
Dearer to ye am I, even than father, husband 
and friends, hence at the risk of even their 
displeasure do yet seek to serve Me. 

"I draw unto Ale all that reach towards Me ! 
Blessed are ye among men ! Go back to those 
who are performing the ceremonies and aid 
them in their rituals. Kindly shall they receive 
ye, and unto them will ye take My love even 
as unto ye all I bestow it." 

When He saw the reluctance with which 
they departed from Him, He said : "Know 
that in the Kingdom of Love separation can- 
not be, and whatever heart doth meditate on 
Me, in that heart I dwell in all My glory. 

"Again, oh know, that by deeds I reckon 
ever and not by words. Ye have served Me by 
deeds, your husbands in their ignorance by 
words alone. But do ye go unto them and 
they too shall know and love the Name of 
Krishna." 

93 



SREE KRISHNA. 

And the women returned unto their hus- 
bands who received them with demonstrations 
of pleasure, and they too worshipped Krishna 
in their homes and hearts. 



94 



CHAPTER XXII. 

When the summer was over, one day Krishna 
saw that great preparations were being made 
for the celebration of ceremonies in honor of 
one of the gods. 

Clothed in seeming ignorance, Krishna said 
to Nanda : 

"Why these preparations, O father, and for 
whom are they made, and what is the potency 
thereof? Is it a custom that through all time 
hath been observed, or, tell me, do the Scrip- 
tures demand that these ceremonies be held?" 
Then Nanda, answering, said: "We offer 
to-day sacrifices to him, the go3 of the clouds, 
to him who watereth our hill-sides and giveth 
drink to our crops and out cattle, to him, Indra, 
the god who promoteth all growth by the bless- 
ing of rain, which he doth supply. A jealous 
,god is he, O my Krishna, and desires that cere- 
monials and sacrifices often are made ; and we 

95 



SREE KRISHNA, 

in all humbleness strive to appease him, that 
in his wrath he may not withhold the moisture 
from our land, nor yet flood us with over much 
rain." 

Then Krishna replied: "My father, He, 
who is the Author of All, doth give unto all 
what is needed. 

"He that in wrath withholdeth a blessing:, he 
never the love of creation hath known; nor 
doth he destroy what he hath created. 

"For the Creator doth ever love His cre- 
ation; for that, which from Him hath come, 
must forever belong to Him and the part is of 
His Great Whole. 

"So Indra cannot curse this land by over- 
much rain or dearth of it. 

"But, O my father, tell the Gopas and Gopis 
to cease the preparations and worship not one 
who would destroy that which he should for- 
ever bless. 

"But come to the hillside that entwines our 
land, the hills and plains that furnish us with 
sustenance for our cattle, and to the forests, 
too, where fruits grow in plenty and give of 
their abundance to all who but take it. 

96 



THE LORD OF LOVE. 

"Come there and give to the hill and the trees 
our sacrifices of joy and love, and feed the 
cows with offerings of fresh grasses, and walk 
with me around the hill in ceremonial pro- 
cession and we shall see their worth and their 
kindness." 

They did so, and Krishna said unto them : 

"I am the Hill and the good that therefrom 
doth come. ,, And his body became of a height 
and length that the eye of man scarce could 
measure, and said : "Do ye salute it and par- 
take of its good!" 

At that the rain poured down from the skies 
in fearful abundance and the people in fear fled 
to their houses, afraid of the wrath of Indra. 

Seven days it poured and threatened to flood 
all the land. But Krishna smiled at the wrath 
of Indra, as he poured down his mighty rains 
and rolled his thunder in threatening claps 
above the heads of the affrighted people, who 
had dared to neglect the sacrifices to him who 
through all ages had been honored by them. 

In their calamity the people sought out 
Krishna, whom they found at the foot of the 
hill Gobardhana. 

97 



SREE KRISHNA, 

The light of His body lit the darkness of 
night far more than the flashes of Indra's 
wrath that in lightning burst forth. "O 
Krishna !" they cried, "Thou who by Thy Yoga 
power can assume the form of a mountain at 
will, Thou who dost drive from the path of 
Thy feet all that unlike Thy sweet will is, save 
us from the wrath of him who even now doth 
seek to drive us from out of life/' 

And Krishna lifted His hand and eye, and 
lo, all their fear was allayed. 

Then all the world grew light as day from 
the glory that radiated from His body, and by 
His Yoga power He lifted the hill itself from 
off its base and held it on high, on the tip of 
his fifth finger, even as the beetle doth hold on 
his horns the leaf that covereth him com- 
pletely. 

The people gathered beneath the hill with 
their children and cattle. Seven days they 
were there, and seven days Krishna held the 
hill above their heads, while the light that came 
from His smile illuminated all the space be- 
tween the hill and its foundation. 

Then Indra, amazed, looked down from his 

98 



THE LORD OF LOVE. 

clouds and knew that the Lord of All was 
there, and had baffled his attempt to destroy 
what He, trie Lord of all Love, had created. 
And the rain ceased its downpouring and the 
rivers became calm and the sun in its glory 
burst forth again. And flowers uplifted their 
water-drenched heads and the trees sprang 
back storm-tossed no more. 

And Krishna said to those whom he had 
sheltered : 

"Depart in peace, and fear no more the wrath 
of him who thought to destroy where he could 
not give life." 

And Indra, the god of the clouds, descended 
to earth, and falling at the feet of Him, in ab- 
ject humility said : 

"O Lord! Thou art the Holy One! Puffed 
up and proud was I in my power and saw my- 
self greater even than Thou. 

"Well know I now that Love is the greatest 
power; and I, in my smallness of godship, 
insolent and destructive became. I sought the 
praise that is ever due to Thee, O Lord of 
Love; for unto resistless Love alone praise 
should be given. But my vanity and pride I 

99 



SREE KRISHNA, 

tried to shield by the power which Thou didst 
endow me with. 

"I thought that I it was who brought the 
life to all trees and by my power kept the hills 
in green and the forests in wondrous foliage, 
and gave drinks to the cows and plenty to the 
rivers. And for it I longed to see men per- 
form the ceremonies and pray to me. 

"But to Thee, O Lord of Love! is due all 
the glory; by Thee alone am I invested with 
power. Do Thou in Thy greatness forgive me, 
while I in humbleness do bow to Thy Lotus 
Feet." 

And Krishna threw a glance at Indra that 
filled him with a great wild joy, and said : 

"O Indra! Though I invested thee with 
sovereignty by My will, be not overfull of 
pride! For this I have stopped the cere- 
monies, so that thou mayest learn to know Me, 
whom thou in thy prosperity hadst quite for- 
gotten. 

"Go to thy abode, Indra, rule thy dominion ; 
but know ever that pride and vanity are with- 
out power, and that Love alone is mighty. 
100 



THE LORD OF LOVE. 

4 To lighten the burdens of all My world, I 
have come to earth. 

"I now lift from thee the load which hath 
caused thee to forget Me, and, in forgetting 
Me, to have lost the beauty which was born 
of Me." 

And with the halo of joy about him, Indra 
returned to his abode, endowed with greater 
power. 



101 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

And now autumn,* the sweetest and richest 
season of all the glad year, had come ; and the 
brow of Brindaban was fair to look upon. 

Peace and love stood on every threshold and 
walked on every roadway, and all lifted up 
their voices, and the words of their gladness 
was Love,, Love ! 

In the hearts of all the song rose and showed 
them pleasant ways and haunts that ended in 
Bliss. Men knew gratitude and justice, which 
are the attributes of Love. 

Love walked on earth and left its blessing in 
its trail ! The flowers whispered their love to 
one another and the dew clung closer to their 
petals, because of the warmth of their love. 

All the land seemed to have ripened into the 
deepest beauty, for the Beauty of Love here 
was King. 



* The first part of the Indian Autumn which comes after the Rainy 
Season. 

102 



THE LORD OF LOVE. 

And Krishna was King and reigned in every 
heart, and all bowed before the majesty of the 
beauty of His Love. 

A substitute it was for all things and satisfied 
the want of each heart, entrancing every object 
and person by its beauty. 

O wonder of Love, that expanded each soul 
and made it a world of joy and bliss ! 

In this happy time, when the moon was full, 
Krishna recalled a promise He had made to 
the Gopis to reward them richly for their love 
for Him. 

So, taking His flute, He went to the forests 
and stood on the brow of the hill. 

All about the white moonlight lay, bathing 
in silver the fruit trees in blossom; soft the 
winds were, and rich the fragrance that they 
brought on their breezes. 

The noises of night alone could be heard. 

And surveying His world with love-filled 
eyes, Krishna took up His flute and poured 
forth the strains that never were heard by man 
or god until that night on the moon-kissed hill, 
when all Brindaban in peace did smile. 

At the sound of those strains, all earth was 

103 



SREE KRISHNA, 

thrilled in ecstasy. The rocks melted in love; 
the trees trembled, and the flowers fell on the 
earth, and men and' beasts all pain forgot. 

And the Gopis knew that Call of Love. Nor 
heeded they duties, or father, or husband, or 
children, but turning their heart to the sound of 
the flute, they followed their heart to Krishna's 
Feet. 

At the first note, she who was feeding her 
household, dropped her food and followed the 
sound ; and she who was nursing her babe, put 
her babe from her breast and answered the 
call ; another came with toilet incomplete. 

All forsook duties, husband and children, to 
find Him who drew them by the sound that was 
made by His Love. 

Separately they came, none observing the 
other. Over thorns and briars and stones they 
walked; sharp twigs caught their hair, 
branches detained them; yet heeded they not 
these obstacles, but onward they went with 
hands torn and feet bleeding and garments 
rent and missing, till they stood at the hill 
where Sree Krishna played and drew from the 

104 



THE LORD OF LOVE. 

flute the music entrancing, at which all the 
rocks and earth did thrill. 

With eyes maddened with love they gazed on 
Him there ! A wondrous vision was He ! 

The light of the noon-day radiated from 
Him, and His beautiful eyes with mysterious 
glances fell on their souls like holy balm ! 

And at that glance their souls were en- 
tranced and deepened and became as if one 
with Him and drank of the love that from 
Him poured ; and all that in them unlike 
Him was, became as pure as He. 

And that which in them unlike that Love 
was, from out of their hearts had flown; and 
made pure and transparent in that glad place, 
they drank of that love which doth chain all 
creation to its Creator — Love. 

Entirely blessed, they sought no more, nor 
hoped they more ; for each held Perfection in 
her eyes, and each knew Perfect Love in her 
heart. 



105 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

Silent they stood and gazed on the Beauty, 
the concentrated love of a world in each eye. 

A spiritual force that swept from its path all 
matter was theirs, as they beheld that Centre 
to which their hearts did gravitate. 

The strains of the flute that made the 
heaven to bend to the earth, that brought the 
stars closer to the hillsides, and drew the gods 
from their abodes of light, had ceased; and 
the voice of Him that was All-Love fell on the 
ears of the Gopis in sound as? sweet as the 
flute's dear strains : 

"O Gopis mine, maids of Braja! My peace 
and greeting be with you all! But why are 
ye 'here one and all ? Tell Me this ! 
i "The hour is late, and your homes at a dis- 
tance are, and the forests are dark, and wild 
beasts are in plenty. And alone ye have come 
without husband, or father ! 

"What is it, pray tell Me, that brings you 

106 






THE LORD OF LOVE. 

here ? Is it love for Me that brings you here ? 
I draw all to Myself and all love Me. 

"But, O Gopis dear, the Scriptures ever have 
said that the chaste woman leaveth not her 
husband, father and babe, to look on the face 
of a youth. 

"Pure are your hearts, I know ; but it is not 
good that ye come to Me, and it looseneth your 
chances to reach that place where all of your 
hearts do long to dwell, when to your bodies 
ye have said farewell. 

"Perhaps ye have come to see the forest, sil- 
vered by the autumn full moon ! Or mayhap 
to greet the breezes that come from the hill- 
sides! Or the blossoms of the trees that 
grace its sides to behold ! If this be so, now 
ye have seen them, depart to your homes, lest 
the hearts of your friends be alarmed at your 
absence." 

The bevy of women, that crowded about 
Him, grew pale with pain and ashen with fear. 
Tears came to their eyes and anxiety to their 
souls, as they heard the words of Him who 
was all in all to them ; till one, more brave than 
the rest, broke forth: 

107 



SREE KRISHNA, 

"O Lord, for the Master of Love art Thou, 
send us not away from Thy side. All have we 
left to serve Thee, our Master. Husbands have 
we, and fathers and brothers, but to Thee 
alone we belong. They are but the keepers of 
our earthly bodies : Thou art the custodian of 
our souls. 

"Our souls are Thine, for Thou art the Soul 
from which we came ; and panting we come to 
find again the Home wherein to rest. 

"Difficult art Thou to find, O Lord ! and now 
we have found Thee, Oh thrust us not from 
Thy Lotus Feet, we who find our joy and hap- 
piness in Thee ! 

"Thy flute hath drawn us from our homes ! 
Oh, suffer us to remain with Thee and know 
Thee as Thou art ! Unable are we to live with- 
out Thy love, O Lord ! and our duties of home 
cannot engage us since our minds are ever con- 
templating Thee. 

"If Thou sendest us away, we shall die. Be 
Thou kind to us, Thy servants, and grant us 
to serve Thee with our Love. ,, 

Then singing into their midst He came, He 
the Lord of the Highest, the Lord of Love and 

108 



THE LORD OF LOVE. 

Lord of the Lowest and Lord of Mercy ! And 
with mighty Love swayed He all alike. And 
each self was forgotten and Love alone was. 

Now singing in chorus, now dancing, now 
skipping, the Lord and his maidens in those 
forest groves roamed, till the river was 
reached. 

Then, from over-much pleasure, proud each 
maid became, and her simple joy to vanity was 
turned because thus she was favored by 
Krishna, the youth Krishna, the Heavenly 
One, Krishna, the Glorious of all glorious 
ones! 

He, noting this, to punish the sin of vanity, 
in swiftness from them vanished ; and with his 
going the sin was gone. 

Maddened by love, the maids pleaded to the 
skies and the trees and the flowers for Him, 
who was their life. But still He came not. 

So absorbed in Him they became, them- 
selves they forgot, and even as Krishna they 
thought they were. And imitating His acts 
they cried to one another : "Lo, I am Krishna ! 
See, I hold the mountains on high! Lo, 

109 



SREE KRISHNA, 

Putana I slay and baffle the rage of Indra 
with my power !" And still came He not. 

Then they sang His praises, then with 
breaking hearts they wailed and prayed for 
Him to return to their midst. At this He 
came, for ever is the Lord most kind to the 
lowly and sorrowing. 

And He soothed their grief and brought 
light to their hearts; and forming a circle 
about Him, in ecstasy they danced. And now 
He, that was the King of the upper world and 
of all the earth, of the plants and oceans and 
clustering stars, He, the Lord of all might and 
Yoga power, Himself divided into many 
Krishnas ; and eaqji Gopi thought she, herself, 
danced alone with the Glorious One that as 
Krishna was known. 

And the dance began lightly, then madder 
became; and He who had come on earth to 
teach man Love, manifested Himself in every 
maid that lightly and rarely stepped at His 
side, as they danced in that grove on that won- 
drous night. 

And the lotus blossoms wept tears of nectar 
on seeing the dance, and birds and bees from 

no 



THE LORD OF LOVE. 

unknown trees and flowers came forth and 
whirled round and round the heads of the 
dancing ones. 

And the heavens showered blossoms rare, 
arid the gods who had stolen from their abode 
to watch the Feast of Love that Krishna gave 
to the lovely milkmaids, lo, senseless became 
at the first sight of that revel of Bliss ! 

And night throbbed and panted and forgot 
to draw its curtain to let day in, but lengthened 
into aeons. 

The veil from every Gopi's eye was drawn, 
and they gazed into the ocean of active spirit- 
uality and spiritual became. And all sin that 
were theirs no more was there. 

And in that mighty dance a flood of spirit- 
uality went forth that took from the heart of 
men and the bosom of earth the sins with 
which they were burdened withal. And men's 
hearts were won by the force of that Love and 
were led to the door of that sacred abode, 
where only the loving may go. 

And the Gopis, who by force were detained 
and could not come to the dance with Krishna, 
lo, in meditation sat, and in deep pain concen- 

lll 



SREE KRISHNA, 

trated on Him, and in that dance they were at 
His side and felt His love-embrace, and all 
their sins were as naught. 

For to touch Krishna, with the mind alone, 
was to gain spirituality and stand pure in His 
eyes. 

So in those hours of intensest happiness the 
world gained what for births it had striven to 
gain. And active love was ripe among mor- 
tals, and that love had wiped all sin away. 

And when the last ray of the moon was seen, 
into the waters of the laughing river they 
plunged ; and ere the sun with ardent eye did 
awaken the sleeping Brindaban, each maiden 
singing homeward went, transformed into a 
being of unalloyed love. 



112 



CHAPTER XXV. 

In the forest grove of moonlight, where the 
river sweetly hummed, where the nightbird's 
plaintive chant broke in ecstasy the silence, 
where the drooping flowers opened wide their 
sleep-kissed eyelids to the night and beheld the 
wondrous vision of the dancing maids and 
Krishna, 

In that hour when every maiden felt her 
heart grow big to bursting for the love that 
in her swelled up in that hour, when every 
maiden saw beside her Glorious Krishna, with 
His brow made fair with flowers and His loins 
wreathed with lotus, when the heart of each 
sweet maiden foolish grew^ because of pride, 
as she saw the one All Beauteous, lightly 
treading at her side to the music of the dance, 

One there was of all those Gopis, she the 
chiefest of them all, one who knew naught else 
but Him ; every thought of self had vanished, 
every thought of aught but Him. 

113 



SREE KRISHNA, 

At His side she lightly stepped nor felt the 
grass 'neath her feet, nor knew the strains of 
rapturous music that fell like wine upon each 
heart; all she knew was Love was there, 
naught but this remembered she. 

To the winds that came from hillsides, to 
the shadows that the trees cast, did she whis- 
per over and over that confession of her love, 
till over-weighed by the sweet burden, did the 
winds, in languorous love, chant and sigh, 
then die in silence. 

And the shadows of the trees trembled at 
the depth of love that the maid did whisper to 
them as He passed them in the dance. 

Radha was she, youthful, lovely, she, His 
playmate of the forest, she, with love-look in 
her face, she, the Queen of Love among them, 
giving all and asking naught. 

By the mighty will of Him she had come on 
earth to dwell, she, who ever reigned with Him 
in Glory, she now walked with Him on earth. 

She, the fairest of these maidens, she the 
rarest of them all, knowing Love in its in- 
tensity, living all its bliss. 

And when He, the Lord of Love, vanished 

114 



THE LORD OF LOVE. 

from the dancing Gopis, she, sweet Radha, 
with Him vanished. 

And they wandered in the deep groves, these, 
the Twain, Who in Glory dwelt, she the lov- 
ing, He the Lover, both the Blissful, both the 
Purest. 

He the dew-kissed flowers gathered, twin- 
ing them about the maiden. But the flowers 
in their beauty were not half as fair as she ; 
and sweet Radha, pearl of maidens, gazed with 
love-light in her eyes, knowing naught was 
half so lovely as the hands that placed them 
there. 

Thus they roamed in shadowy moonlight, 
rested here in softened shadows, chanting love- 
songs to each other, knowing naught but pure 
delight, till a-wearied with her roaming, 
Radha begged to cool her feet in the smiling 
waves of Jumna, that she spied there in the 
moonlight. 

Krishna, greatest of all lovers, lightly 
stooped to lift the maiden, and in loving arms 
to bear her where the smiling waters rippled. 

But within the breast of Radha, at that act, 
115 



SREE KRISHNA, 

pride sprang to being, and within that home 
of Love vanity crept and nestled there. 

For a moment Krishna held her, then with 
lightning swiftness from her side He van- 
ished. 

But in that twinkle of a moment Radha 
knew what her sin was and, aware of her 
enemy, the selfless love, which was her Self, 
her deity supreme, arose and quenched all 
thirst of vanity. 

Quickly gliding through the forest, she 
again did join the Gopis, spying in the further 
distance Krishna soothing one and all. To 
His side she lightly stepped, she, the radiant, 
she, His Heaven-Mate, purged from sin and 
lightly clothed with the love that knew but 
Him. 



116 



CHAPTER XXVL 

While the land of Brindaban was rich in the 
love which Krishna flooded it withal, the heart 
of Kangsa, the brother of Devaki, was filled 
with fear for his life ; for it was known to his 
quaking heart that the eighth child of Devaki 
still walked the earth, and also he knew that 
writ it was that the hand of that child would 
lay him low. 

Far and wide he sought the child, the boy, 
whom he felt was the God who had come to 
bring to the virtuous and lowly man peace, 
and sweep from the land the oppressor and 
tyrant. 

The marvelous deeds of Sree Krishna, his 
beauty and strength, the might of his love, 
had been heralded far and wide, and all the 
then known world was turned towards the 
forest land of Brindaban with expectant eye 
and thirsting heart. For ever the heart of 

117 



SREE KRISHNA, 

man doth pant for and turn to the place where 
love doth dwell. 

When tales of Krishna's wonderful life and 
glorious deeds came to the ears of Kangsa, he 
felt that the boy whom Yasoda and Nanda 
reared as their own, in sweet Brindaban, was 
the child that he sought to kill when it came 
from the womb of Devaki, and when by the 
hand of fate itself he had been baffled. 

And the dull, hungry flame of hatred and 
anger rose like fire in this bad man's heart, 
and an atmosphere as of hell about him rose, 
and all his peace slipped to the dust, and his 
secret fear that like a coiled serpent had lain 
in silence now uncurled its length and lifted 
its head and darted here and there to strike the 
prey that aroused it from its slumber. 

And long he sat and meditated evil against 
the youth that he could not slay in spite of his 
kingship. For the Name of Krishna was a 
balm to the hearts of all men who had ever 
heard it spoken, and though king he was and 
ruler over many, he knew that the strength of 
the fame of Krishna, the boy bred in Brinda- 
ban, more potency possessed than the name of 

118 



THE LORD OF LOVE. 

Kangsa, the king. For he was ruler over the 
bodies of men only. 

His name dwelt on the tongues of men who 
prattled with words alone, and those words 
embodied not the thought from which they 
sprang — words that praised where praises 
were not due, and applauded where it was not 
deserved. 

Men who dared not note the indignity of his 
motives and their results, nor discriminate be- 
tween the righteousness of his action and his 
blood-dyed deeds, vexed his ears with fawning 
acclamations to-day because of his power, yet 
to-morrow blamed and hissed him out of sight. 
But Krishna was ruler over all hearts by the 
might of his wondrous love. He was the 
Divine Incarnation, the Inner Call, the satis- 
fied softness that all felt, compelling all, yet 
demanding naught. Uncovered, frank, He 
stood forth inviting all to look on Him to Know 
and to love and be saved, — too deep for the hu- 
man understanding to measure, too large for 
human heart to embrace, yet acquainting each 
man with Himself. 

This love still untaught, still gazing on Him 

119 



SREE KRISHNA, 

who was all encased in love, all made of love, 
all teeming with love, they knew themselves of 
His creation, and Him their Sovereign Lord. 

And Kangsa knew that by knowing Him the 
world would boldly recoil from the sickening 
deeds of his cruelty, the foul plots of his life 
would be laid bare to all, and the world in re- 
bellion would rise. And he knew, too, that he 
in his worldly powers as a weakling would be, 
by the side of the cow-herd Krishna. 

So among his councillors an edict went forth 
that festivities be held in honor of the Bow, on 
the fourteenth day of the lunar month, and 
that sacrifices in great abundance be made. 

He also said unto them that preparations be 
made, and pavillions be raised, and the arena 
cleared, and the amphitheatre festooned with 
flowers and banners; and proclamations were 
issued that all the inhabitants of his whole 
kingdom be invited to his capital and that the 
people of Braja be included therein. 

And last he sent his ambassador in great 
pomp and glory to call to his palace the sev- 
enth son of Devaki, Balaram, and the eighth 
son, Krishna, to witness the sports and partake 
120 



THE LORD OF LOVE. 

in the wrestling contests and show to the king- 
dom their dexterity and strength. 

Thus spoke Kangsa, and called to Akrura 
and made him the ambassador that was to 
bring Krishna and Rama to Mathura. But 
this also he ordered: "When here they are 
brought, see that the strongest and mightiest 
wrestlers of my kingdom be brought to match 
them and fairly or foully to lay them low/' 
And he added : "If here death fails to meet 
them withal, keep the infuriated elephant close 
to the gate, so that he in his madness may 
tread out the life of Krishna at my command." 
These were his orders, and Akrura, his am- 
bassador, bowing to him, departed to Braja. 



m 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

The sun was setting 1 in Braja, and Krishna 
with companions was homeward leading the 
cows to be milked. 

The hills were gold-tipped. The chirp of the 
birds in sleepy echoes fell on the ear, when 
far in the distance the hoofs of stamping steeds 
pounding the earth caused the boys to turn. 
Coming in royal splendor towards them they 
beheld a chariot with blazing banners of the 
colors of the royal house of Mathura. 

The boys stood in amazement as nearer the 
chariot came; but Krishna smiled with His 
eye full of wisdom, and aslant He looked to- 
ward the boys and the cows and then at 
Akrura, th ambassador, who came in the 
chariot. 

At that glance, Akrura quickly descended 

and fell at the feet of Krishna and saluted Him 

in reverence and worship, for the dart of love 

that came from Krishna revealed to the heart 

123 



THE LORD OF LOVE. 

of Akrura that Krishna was more than human 
and not less than divine. 

With that glance his soul was drawn to the 
soul of Him who stood there to receive him 
and his message. And he knew that the Au- 
thor of Life he beheld and that blessed he was 
beyond all measure to be chosen to look on 
that wonderful face. 

A moment he lay in the dust, at the feet of 
the youth, — Akrura, the proud, the inmate of 
palaces, the councilor and companion of the 
king and emperor. 

Then, with kindly grace, Krishna raised him 
and embraced him and led him forth to the 
house of Nanda, and with His own hands 
brought rich drinks and choice viands, with 
the countenance that had on it the glow of 
the sun, and the beauty that surpassed all the 
beauty ever seen. 

And having partaken of the meal with His 
father and brother and guest, Krishna ad- 
dressed him thus : "O friend, long I knew of 
this coming of thine and marvelled at its delay. 
Yet tell them, my kinsman, the errand of the 
king on which thou wert sent !" 

123 



SREE KRISHNA, 

Then Akrura related to Nanda and the fear- 
stricken Yasoda the king's message, his plans 
and his evil design. 

A smile of wisdom flitted over the face of 
Krishna, as He nestled close to the side of 
His mother and bade her forget her anxiety 
for Him, as none there was in all the world 
that could harm Him. He vowed that even 
the most dreaded Kangsa was powerless to 
bring about the evil he planned. 

But the mother, Yasoda, she who had 
reared and nourished the Child at her heart, 
she who had caressed His lovely baby soft- 
ness and with fondness saw his first toddling 
steps, she could not be comforted, nor would 
her heart cease its beating of pain and terror. 
And Akrura related how Kangsa in wrath 
had thrown Devaki and Vasudeva into prison, 
on hearing that Krishna was the eighth son of 
their union. And Yasoda wept as the thought 
of the mother who had lost all her sons at the 
cost of Krishna, and yet had not the blessing 
of suckling Him. 

Yasoda, most blessed of all women art thou, 
who nursed the Lord of Love as thy son ! And 

124 



THE LORD OF LOVE. 

fitted wert thou by Him to bestow on His 
baby life thy caresses and receive the love that 
flowed from Him ! 

Worthy wert thou to croon Him to sleep, to 
bathe the sweet beauty of Him who, though 
He had all there was, yet chose to be soothed 
and guided and directed by thee in His baby- 
hood! 

And when to boyhood's estate He grew and 
startled all the world by the wonder of His 
doing, to thee He came as a little child, to be 
loved and petted and soothed of His weeping 
and fretting! 

And now when called king of the land, 
and called king by the hearts of the whole 
known world that panted to look upon His 
wonderful beauty and see the might of His 
strength, even now close to thy heart He 
nestles, and twines His arms about thy neck, 
and gazes with love-light into thine eyes to 
comfort thee, and feels a shadow mantle His 
heart as He banishes the pain from thy brow ! 

For well He knows that no more to thee the 
forest child He will be; for the world now 
125 



SREE KRISHNA, 

claims Him as its own, and in His bigger 
world an actor He must be. 

Thus heart to heart they sit, the mother and 
the foster-son, He who was Lord of all the 
world, and she who reared him as a child. 



126 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

So night wore away, and in the early morn- 
ing hours Akrura was ready to start on the 
journey with Rama and Krishna. 

But great was the wail and heartrending the 
lamentations that came from the hearts of the 
Gopis. 

With tear-filled eyes they rushed to His 
home and pleaded and prayed that He stay in 
their midst; for to them life seemed impossible 
without Him, and Brindaban could not be 
blessed when He ceased to walk thereon. And 
what would the cattle and flowers and trees 
do without the sound of His love-touched 
flute? 

"Oh, remain with us, Krishna, O Lord of 
our hearts ! Oh, keep close to our land, Most 
Beautiful One! 

"Broken are our hearts, bowed low our 
spirit at the thought of our lives without Thy 
presence to cheer us. Dull are our minds and 

127 



SREE KRISHNA, 

leaden our hearts by the pain of Thy going. 

"Oh, leave us not in this ocean of sorrow, 
but stay where we ever may look on Thy 
face. 

"O Thou who shapest all that is, who hast 
knitted our hearts to Thyself ! how canst Thou 
tear it away from us who know the sweetness 
of its love and the fruits that spring there- 
from? 

"Once having known Thy smile, O Krishna ! 
how can we bear the dawning of day without 
the light of Thy smile, in which the concen- 
trated beauty of Thy whole creation lies, to 
fill it and make each day whole? 

"And how can we see the shadows of night 
thicken and darken, and know that no more 
we will roam in forest and dance in the moon- 
light with Thee, our Beloved? 

"Oh! depart not from us, Thou in whom 
we are buried, Thou whose love doth envelop 
us all, Thou whose universe-embrace around 
us is entwined! Oh! go not from out our 
midst, we implore Thee !" 

Thus, tearing their tresses and weeping, the 
Gopis clung to the wheels of the chariot in 

128 



THE LORD OF LOVE. 

which Krishna and Rama sat ready to start 
on their journey to Mathura. 

Then Krishna arose, and looking deep in the 
eye of each, he waved his hand in farewell, 
and left the smile of Bliss with them that 
filled each soul to overflowing. Then forward 
the restless chargers plunged, the dust rising 
high and quite covering the chariot. 

The maids stood like hewn marble, still yet 
serene. And the cattle that grazed on the 
hillside turned towards the road where the 
chariot vanished, in their eyes a look of yearn- 
ing love; while the deer on the brow of the 
hill, with arched neck and wild, shy glance, 
heaved a quick, short sigh, as if hurt. 

And the soft breasts of the singing birds 
quivered, and a little sad song burst from their 
throats ; while the trees and the flowers hung 
limp and wilted, as if the glad life had left 
their hearts. 

A groan arose from the wild beasts in the 
forest, as if in the hand of death they were 
trapped. The sun vanished from the skies, 
and all Nature seemed clothed with the gar- 
ment of sadness. 

129 



SREE KRISHNA, 

Then forth the sun burst in glorious splen- 
dor, as the joy of the smile of the Lord of Love 
awoke in potency to bless all living things 
whereon it had fallen. 

And sweet Brindaban in silence lay, for- 
ever blessed and forever beloved, for the Feet 
of Him, who was God, had walked there and 
made holy its soil. 



130 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

And the chariot, bearing Akrura, Rama and 
Krishna, was followed close by the carts bear- 
ing Nanda and the Gopas, who carried gifts 
for the king Kangsa, to whom all must present 
the best of their store. 

On reaching the banks of the Jumna, Krish- 
na and Rama in sportiveness descended from 
the chariot and dipped in the sacred waters of 
the river, then ascended again to the chariot. 

Whereat Akrura, the ambassador, had a dip 
in the water, too, reciting the sacred texts 
in the meanwhile, when, lo, in the waters 
where he stood he beheld the laughing Krishna 
and Rama, sitting in the lap of the god of 
water. 

Amazed and bewildered, he gazed towards 
the chariot where last he had seen the brothers, 
and there they sat talking, as when he had 
left them. 

Again he dipped his head 'neath the waves 

131 



SREE KRISHNA, 

of the water and again he saw Rama and 
Krishna, and knew that his senses were not 
deluded. 

Krishna, though seemingly a youth with all 
a youth's sportiveness and play, yet was the 
Lord Incarnate. 

And near the cart, Akrura looked in the 
eyes of Krishna where the wisdom that cre- 
ated the universe lay, and answered the ques- 
tioning gaze thus : "O Lord ! None is there as 
wonderful as Thou art! All hast Thou cre- 
ated and in Thee is all Creation. All have I 
seen that there is to see." 

And the chariot proceeded towards Mathura. 



132 



CHAPTER XXX. 

Noon reigned in the city of Mathura when 
the chariot, bearing the two sons of Vasudeva, 
entered that city. 

The fame of the deeds and the beauty of 
Rama and Krishna was known in all that 
kingdom, and their coming to partake of its 
celebrations and to participate in the sports and 
wrestling at the command of Kangsa, the king, 
had been heralded all over the land. 

And the populace was glad and knew not 
why. And they said in their hearts, "Krishna 
the Youth, the wonderful Youth of Brandaban, 
will grace our land by His coming." 

So the streets were crowded to welcome 
Him there, and the tops of the houses were 
flowered with the bright faces of women who 
gazed from there to catch the first glance 
of Him whom rumor had crowned the Most 
Glorious Youth of the then known world. 

O Beauty, how potent art thou ! O con- 

133 



SREE KRISHNA, 

queror of all, that winneth the heart of the 
lowliest child and enslaveth the heart of the 
proud queen of the world ; tHat slaketh the 
thirst of the parched soul and tutoreth the 
dullest mind never quickened by thought! 

So, 'mid blare of trumpets and with banners 
unfurled, the Lord of Love entered Mathura. 

And above the roar of the celebrations and 
preparations rose the murmurs and shouts of 
greetings, from the sea of upturned faces of 
men and from the canopy of sweet, down- 
cast eyes of women, that thronged to see His 
coming. 

And millions of tongues repeated His Name 
and sang His praises, and millions of souls 
were flooded with love, because they had 
looked on His face and said His Name, which 
was as potent as His Love. For His Name 
contained Himself, and those who uttered His 
Name had Him in their hearts, and lo, the 
world to them was complete ! 

Majestic and vast, He walked 'mid the 
worshipping people, who saw but a youth of 
transcendent beauty, but felt the Unfathomable 

134 



THE LORD OF LOVE. 

mystery, the Unknowable Grandeur, worthy 
to receive their deepest obeisance. 

Through the streets of Mathura He went, 
bringing light to all whereon His smile fell. 

And Kangsa, the tyrant, grew cold and gray, 
for he knew his doom was drawing nigh. And 
his sleep was disturbed by evil dreams, for he 
knew already the populace was welcoming 
Him whom none could look upon but to love. 



135 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

The next day Krishna and Rama went forth 
to view the capital of Mathura in all its holi- 
day splendor. 

They found the gates of the palace made 
of pure gold and studded with jewels and 
crystal. The broad street of the city and 
the pretty parks all luxuriant were with rare 
flowers and wondrous foliage. The splendid 
houses all seemed clothed and beautified for 
the ceremonies of the Bow, the symbol of 
the warrior's might, that were to take place 
that day. 

It chanced that a washerman passed their 
way, balancing upon his head the clothes and 
making way towards the palace with them. In 
a spirit of mischief, Krishna said : "Give us 
the clothes that you carry to Kangsa, good fel- 
low, for in need of them are we. Give them, 
and more I will give unto thee." 

But the washerman in insolence replied: 

136 



THE LORD OF LOVE. 

"Upstarts, who are ye to dare to aspire to 
wear the clothes that belong to Kangsa the 
Great? Never have ye seen such clothes, and 
unfit to even touch them are ye. Be off and 
back to the country from whence ye came, 
or I will call the guards, who by my word will 
throw you in chains." 

Krishna, with a smile and a wave of his bare 
hand, severed the head from the trunk of the 
washerman and proceeded to take the clothes. 

And a weaver, who was passing their way, 
helped them put on the garments ; while a 
florist, who near by was weaving garlands for 
Kangsa, came to Rama and Krishna and be- 
decked them with garlands and flowers. 

And thus clad for the festivities, onward 
they went ; but first the weaver and the florist 
were rewarded with great spiritual powers by 
Krishna, the giver of all good things to those 
who give unto Him their love. 

As they proceeded on their way, a woman 
of great deformity came near. A parcel she 
held in her hands, which she guarded care- 
fully. As close she came to Krishna, she 
lifted her head and gazed on His face. 

137 



SREE KRISHNA, 

For a moment she stood, a smile transform- 
ing her face. Then the bowl of precious san- 
dal-wood ointment, which to the King Kangsa 
she carried, to Krishna she reached and said 
unto Him: "O Youth, more beautiful art 
Thou than aught that mine eye has ever rested 
upon. To those who are sweet should sweet- 
ness be given. I am a servant of King Kangsa. 
This fragrant unguent for him I make, but 
more fitted by far is its richness for Thee. 
Oh, allow me to lay it at Thy feet!" 

Krishna looked at her deformity, then at her 
love-filled eyes, and putting His feet on the 
tips of her toes and His two fingers under her 
chin, He wrenched her form upward; and 
she, who was known as the Tribakra (she of 
three bends) was a hunchback no more, but tall 
and straight was she ; and her face never lost 
the beauty it bore when it looked on the face 
of Krishna as she offered to anoint Him with 
zeal and love. 

And from that day forth she was known 
as the most surpassingly beautiful woman in 
all that land. 

Thus love for Krishna creates a charm that 

138 



THE LORD OF LOVE. 

grows into beauty and nevermore fades. 

Thus all day long He wandered about, heal- 
ing the sinful, the sick and the dying by the 
very breath of His passing. 

And to sorrowing fathers and mothers that 
day long lost sons were restored, and even 
the dead were brought to life and were seen 
with the eye and felt with the heart and en- 
circled with the arms of those whose hearts 
were empty for them. 

And thus the Lord with benign smile 
brought to all the gifts of life and love, and 
none were there in all that land who felt 
not the power thereof. 



139 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

When the hour for the festivities of the 
Bow began, spectators innumerable filled the 
galleries and platforms of the amphitheatre. 
By every tongue the praise of Krishna's beauty 
was sung, and all awaited with eager desire 
the arrival of the brothers Rama and Krishna. 

In the centre of the arena a platform was 
raised, where Kangsa, the king, and his min- 
isters were enthroned. His eyes were lurid 
with hate and his heart quaking with fear, 
for his dreams had been full of evil omens, 
and he knew that he of all that multitude was 
out of tune with Nature. 

For Krishna, the Youth, had scattered flow- 
ers of love in that city for all who chose to 
partake of them, and all hearts had gathered 
them eagerly. Only he alone had turned from 
the good and abided by his hate ; and he knew, 
in spite of the wrestlers and the wild elephant, 

140 



THE LORD OF LOVE. 

and even the guard that stood ready to slay 
at his command, that the Youth would con- 
quer, as He ever had, and that he would die 
by His hands sooner or later. 

For had it not been writ thus? And again 
had not every attempt of his to put out the life 
of the eighth child of Devaki been baffled in 
marvelous ways? And still the Youth lived 
and smiled. Surely he was Hari, the Invin- 
cible ! 

His hate betrayed him and was hourly lead- 
ing him into a trap. It charmed him like a 
subtle snake, while it frightened him like a 
huge wild beast; yet gladly would he have 
opened the valve that held his wrath and 
flooded, all with its poison, if by so doing he 
might have annihilated that glorious Youth 
who stood ever before him by night and day 
and smote his cruel heart as with a glowing 
rod. 

So all his stolid self-possession was gone as 
he looked on, when Krishna, the Beautiful, 
soft as a delicate woman, yet invincible as 
unconquered strength, walked 'mid the hys- 

141 



SREE KRISHNA, 

terically joyous shouts of the people to where 
the giant Bow was guarded by warriors bold. 

A moment, and then He seized the Bow and 
held it aloft with one hand, the Bow that 
twelve men of mighty strength alone could 
handle, and with a twist of His wrist it fell 
at their feet, broken in twain. 

The guards rushed forward, as if to strike 
Him low ; but when near Him, they stopped 
and looked at His glory; they crouched low 
on their haunches and fell on their faces, un- 
able to move, for the life had gone out of 
their bodies by the first wave of His hand. 

But blessed were they ; for none died by the 
hand of Krishna, but by Him was made pure 
and straightway to the realms of Bliss they 
were sent. 

For where the hand of Krishna rested, 
whether to bring life or take life away, that 
man forever holy was made by the touch. 

So also with Kangsa it was. Dwelling con- 
stantly on Krishna, even though in hate, he 
came closer to Love than he himself knew. 

So the celebration of the Bow ended in 
triumph for Krishna and Rama. And though 

142 



THE LORD OF LOVE. 

Kangsa sent a body of well-armed soldiers to 
apprehend them, lo! the conquerors victorious 
walked from the arena, followed by the cheers 
of the worshipping populace, who saw that in 
strength they were invincible, even as in beauty 
they were incomparable. And they looked for- 
ward eagerly to the morrow, when the broth- 
ers were to participate in wrestlings and sports. 
But Rama and Krishna returned to spend 
the night with the Gopas; while the people 
of Mathura neither ate nor slept, but sang of 
their beauty and might. 



143 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

But Kangsa was troubled by the triumph of 
the brothers, and next morning called the 
wrestlers who were to match the two brothers, 
and again put to them the weight of the con- 
test, and placed armed men at the gates of 
the arena. He then proceeded with many 
forebodings to the amphitheatre, where the 
sports were to take place. He took his seat 
amid the beating of drums, the blaring of 
trumpets and the waving of banners. 

Already many spectators had assembled, 
among them many crowned chiefs, Brahmans 
and Kshatriyas, all with expectancy over- 
whelming, as to the outcome of the wrestling. 

Forward the wrestlers came with a rush 
and stood in the centre of the ring, wrestlers 
whose fame was known throughout all the land 
for their brute strength and skill. 

Few there were who dared to meet these 
men, and as Krishna and Rama came for- 
1-44 



THE LORD OF LOVE. 

ward to see the meeting of the first pair, they 
found a huge elephant posted there at the 
entrance. 

Krishna, seeing this, asked the driver to 
make way with the beast for Him. At this 
the rider urged the infuriated beast towards 
Him. 

With a smile, Krishna grasped with his 
soft little hand the nose of the furious beast, 
who, with a bellow, fell to the ground life- 
less, dragging the driver down with him. 

Krishna then tore the tusks from the brute's 
head; and Rama and Krishna entered the 
wrestling grounds with the tusks in their 
hands and blood-stained from the slaying of 
the beast. 

Kangsa's heart sank at the, sight, and even 
the wrestlers recoiled in terror at the blood- 
stained figures who gazed on them with super- 
natural power in their youthful eyes. 

Yet true to the command of Kangsa, Chanoor 
the chief of the wrestlers, cried: "Come, ye 
youngsters, giood wrestlers are ye ! The good 
king hath invited you to participate in the con- 
test, so come and wrestle and give pleasure to 

145 



SREE KRISHNA, 

King Kangsa, he who is the greatest of all 
kings and men." 

With a smile all-wise Krishna looked at the 
wrestlers, then, with eye aslant, he gazed on 
Kangsa, who trembled at the look; and an- 
swered Chanoor thus: "Though subjects of 
King Kangsa, yet only boys of the forest are 
we, unlearned in the art of wrestling. There- 
fore, we pray you, match us with boys of our 
age and not with men whose muscles are iron 
and whose hearts are bold as a lion's. If we 
are to meet men like these, unfair is the game, 
and unjust, and we decline the arrangement." 

Then Chanoor became insolent, because of 
the confession of Krishna which he thought 
was made in weakness, and cried: "O thou 
who hast killed, the furious elephant as if in 
sport, thou askest to be matched with one of 
thine own age! With me thou shalt wrestle, 
me the most powerful, the strongest man of 
the age, and Rama shall match with Mush- 
tik; and, be it just or unjust, fair or unfair, 
thee I will fight and fight to kill." 

And so a combat began between the man 
that was mortal and the youth that was God. 

146 



THE LORD OF LOVE. 

The man a giant was of colossal brute force, 
of stature great, with muscles all knotted and 
crooked as the boughs of an oak-tree of many 
years' growth. 

And the Boy, smooth as a sweet maiden, 
all curved with grace, smilingly awaited the 
onslaught. 

Forward the wrestler came, with the snort 
of a wild bull, to meet the Boy, who, calm and 
serene, smiled in his eye. f 

The people arose and sprang from their 
benches, and hissed, and threw their head- 
gear and staffs into the ring, as they shouted : 
"Give up, the fight is unfair!" 

"Oh, shame! 7 ' they cried, "coward and 
beast ! put a stop to the slaughter !" on seeing 
the seemingly unequal fight. 

Several times Chanoor struck furious blows 
at the fair, slight body of Krishna, the youth, 
but provoked naught but a smile from Him ; 
while beads of blood sprang to the brow and 
arms of Chanoor, and his huge legs trem- 
bled and broke at the knee as he tried to reach 
the belt of Him, who, after several circles 
about the ring, seized Chanoor by the arms, 
147 



SREE KRISHNA, 

and, lifting him high above His head, to the 
wonderment of the crowd, dashed him down 
to the ground, as a playing child doth throw 
the pebbles. And the wrestler breathed his 
last with a yearning look of love in his eyes, 
as they rested on Him, whom a moment before 
he beheld with hate. 

And Rama, too, victorious was. 

But when Krishna stood and faced the mass 
of people there, they shouted and cheered with 
mad delight and jumped on the railings in 
panic wild : "He is more than human, He 
is God come down to earth! It is He, for 
whom the world hath waited ! He will free 
our land from oppression ! Hari is He, the In- 
vincible! Oh, mighty art Thou and possessest 
in Thy frame the forces of all the universe !" 

But Kangsa, the King, full of terror and 
rage, cried : "Ho, guards ! Seize him and 
take him to the outskirts of my kingdom and 
drive him into banishment. Imprison Nanda 
and Yasoda, confiscate all their lands and be- 
longings, and take from the Gopas their 
wealth and goods and drive them from Brinda- 
ban. Kill Devaki and Vasudeva, who are now 

14S . 



THE LORD OF LOVE. 

imprisoned in my dungeon. Kill all who know 
and love this youth, 'tis my command/' 

A moment Krishna gazed on Kangsa, then 
with a bound he reached the platform where 
Kangsa stood with sword unsheathed. 

"O Kangsa. I am the eighth son of Devaki 
whom thou so long hast sought to slay. It 
is writ that thou by my hand must die! O 
King, dost thou think that human hand can 
turn aside the force of the Law?" 

And hurling Kangsa down on the ground, 
He leaped over the prostrate king, whereat his 
life departed. 

But his glazed eyes were fixed on Him 
whose hand had blessed even him by its touch 
and burned away every sin from his soul. 

Then, hastening through the lines of guards, 
who prostrated low at His approach, He went 
to where His father and mother were impris- 
oned in dungeons dark and deep. 

Low he bent to their feet, murmuring in 
accents sweet : 

"O parents mine ! Oh, much have ye suf- 
fered for my sake and all ye shall gain through 
Me ; for in Me is all there is to gain and out- 

149 



SREE KRISHNA, 

side of Me there is naught. From thy womb, 
O Devaki, I was born, yet out of Me thou didst 
come. I prostrate before thee.'' 

Then saluting them both, 'mid deafening 
cheers, he led them forth to the palace. 

And the father of Kangsa, dethroned by his 
son, received and welcomed them there. 

And wild was the joy of the populace on 
that day that Krishna lifted the yoke of bond- 
age from them, and they blessed the hour that 
the sun had ushered in that day, which brought 
anew ruler in their land. 

And 'already Mathura felt the joy that was 
but a forerunner of a perfect reign. For 
Krishna it was who placed on the throne the 
one who would rule the land in goodness and 
plenty. 



150 



Messages and Revelations 

From 

Sree Krishna 



MESSAGES AND REVELATIONS 
FROM SREE KRISHNA 

Within my belly you do dwell, yet in every 
heart I sit. Know you this, O my own, and 
you shall forget and fetter yourselves to Me. 
The wings of your Self now are close clapped 
like a dripping feather all wet with tears of 
pain and folded about your body, keeping it 
rolled like a ball, unable to stand upon the 
feet of might and strength which I have en- 
dowed you with. These wings, my own, I 
will spread for you, until the grand, noble 
forehead of your Self shall rise above the 
realm where Time and Space do reign. 

Deep have the waters of seeming failures 
dashed about thy feet and threatened to drag 
you into the perturbed sea of despair, but 
still thy head has been close to the clouds and 
thou hast caught the smile of my radiance and 
heard the voice of my kindness. Dost thou 

151 



MESSAGES AND REVELATIONS 

think that I who have numbered the grains of 
sand and have weighed the drops of water 
in all the oceans, seas, lakes and rivers, — that 
I will allow one who is a spark of Myself to 
be devoured by the wolf of famine or by the 
dread of despair? Look up, it is light, look 
to thy right and a hand reaches out to thee. 
And I have placed thee where those who know 
how to love what is lovable can look at thee 
and love. 

* * 

The soul which has need of blessedness, to 
that soul do I answer at its call! Let it feed 
the heart that is hungry for an answer. 

* * 

A lamp within your midst I place and those 
who would enjoy the radiance which the lamp 
gives out, must cast their eyes to where the 
lamp does stand and stir to reach unto its 
light. A shading tree upon the sandy hill I 
place. The weary traveller, all hot, who 
of its cooling shade would partake must come 
within the circle of its throwing shade. He, 
who will not see the lamp or walk to where 

152 



FROM SREE KRISHNA. 

the shadows dark and cool do fall, he cannot 
enjoy the blessing of the lamp as it casts its 
light or the cooling shades of the slanting 
branches. So 'tis with Love : if you will seek 
its warmth and glow, do thou seek it. Only 
those who seek Me do I in return meet. 

* * 

Oh, the love that stoops low at every foot! 
Take thou that love in thy hands and burdens 
will lighten. Put thou My Love in thy heart 
and thy world will brighten. Oh, give with 
love to all who come w r ithin the radius of thy 
glory. The heritage of My Love much more 
thou wilt know. As immeasurable as space thy 
self shall become and heights in thy heart will 
appear, and splendours more splendid than all 
thou hast known, and heights more sublime 
than the whitod peaks where once thou hast 
stood and looked into the calm tranquility of 
my Everlasting Eye. 

* * 

The man who seeketh to do good, oft doth 
lose his aim by becoming desirous to reach 
higher places through that same good. 

153 



MESSAGES AND REVELATIONS 

A man who hoards his gold, oft learns to 
love the smile of his golden sweetheart and 
develops into an avaricious creature. 

The maid who plaits shining tresses, in so 
doing may be weaving a net of vanity in her 
soul. This by ignorance of self may be 
brought about though the original motive was 
pure and good. Hence Ignorance is sin! 

* * 

A sharp edged sword hung at the side will 
cut the baby's hand as it plays with its sharp- 
ness. There again ignorance is punished like 
sin. 

* * 

Love now does mould you; love does en- 
fold you ; love does behold you, and bind you, 
my children. I wear on my brow the great 
pearl of Love which no god or saint or man or 
worm or beast or ant can resist. Even I who 
am All Love do look upon the beauty of my 
Love and love and love. 

Ye, O my children, that jewel shall wear on 

154 



FROM SREE KRISHNA. 

your brow. I who am All Love ye may wear 
and I who am love-filled ye may hold. For 
love must ever fly to love and love must ever 
draw from love, and love must ever live in 
love, for life doth spring from love. And I 
do live in love. 

Oh, list! Plant not thy seed in fertile 
ground and wait for it to root and blossom 
and fruit for thy own self alone. Rather do 
thou plant thy seed for the heart of every 
heart that lives within My Great Heart. He 
who waters, tends and sprouts his plant not 
for his own sweet taste alone but for the taste 
of every man, he of that sweetness and fresh- 
ness shall taste even before the fruit is ripe. 
Know you, O my children, the life which I 
have given you sprang from My Love. Oh, 
make thy life a song sublime and not a groan. 

Evil availeth not when you my laws do know. 
List! fill your heart with love, w T ith sunshine 
which freely I scatter to you ; and I will bring 
there soft rains and the seed of love to life 
I will stir; and that which to your senses of 

155 



MESSAGES AND REVELATIONS 

infants doth reek of the charnel-house, a fer- 
tilizer shall become, for your love to grow and 
sprout, even as the creeping vine that drops 
and takes root wherever it falls. 

* * 
I am the swiftness in the sailing cloud, the 
flame struck from the flint. I am the fire 
housed in every star, the breath I am of every 
living thing. All things that are, do love, for 
I am all that lives — I, who am life and love — 
I, who am love and life, and naught is there 
besides. The hearing ear I am, the seeing eye, 
the throbbing heart, I waken in every man the 
love that reaches out. 

O Daughter! Rise in thy dignity and sur- 
vey that which thou art master of and look 
to the marble halls which beckon thee even 
now. Know this, that love and wisdom is the 
mystery of all things and that Love when un- 
derstood is twin to Dominion. Do thou the 
work that lies at thy hand ! Remember each 
day is thy fulfilled world. It is thy Zion, it 
is thy life complete. Such jewels as have 

156 



FROM SREE KRISHNA. 

crowned few are daily being laid at thy feet ! 
Spurn them not for the material seeming bless- 
ings which invite thee. 

A HOLY MAN'S PRAYER. 

There w r as a holy man who thought never 
of himself, but ever of those among whom he 
lived and passed his days. So wondrous 
virtuous and holy he was, that ofttimes the 
host of unseen ones who loved to remain near 
him recognized the greatness of his goodness 
and spoke among themselves thus : "Holy is 
this man in truth and strange to say he knows 
it not. Surely few are like him. Let us who 
love him ask him how he would be served by 
us, how we may bestow upon him gifts which 
to the blind earthwalkers are called the su- 
pernatural or miraculous." 

"So be it," in unison they replied. And one 
among the spirit-host who, by the strength and 
beauty of holiness was superior, addressed him 
thus : O holy man, we who look upon you 
hourly and love you much, we would bestow 
upon you some gift. What shall it be? The 

157 



MESSAGES AND REVELATIONS 

miracle of making all who look upon you — 
man, woman or child, — love you? Or would 
it be «the miracle of relieving all whom thou 
dost meet and love of the load of poverty 
which thou seest and which makes thee sad 
at the look? Or shall it be the power of re- 
lieving the sick of his burden of disease which 
draggeth him to an early grave ?" 

The holy one looked at the gentle and lovely 
spirit with eyes in which dwelt the very beauty 
of love and holiness and said : "Nay, dear 
spirit, not for me are these miracles. To my 
Lord, who is the giver of all joy and pain, 
doth belong the great power of removing what 
he giveth. But this I ask, that I walk in hum- 
bleness and in my heart the prayer will grow 
to love my Lord the more. That love I may 
be able to give to all who come within my 
reach. This, O gentle spirit, is all I ask. De- 
part and allow me to but see my Lord in hum- 
bleness and pray to love him." 

The spirit departed and to the unseen host 
did say: "For such as he is the Love of the 
Lord! Already hath he acquired what we in 
vain seek — Love for the Lord !" 

158 



FROM SREE KRISHNA. 

Glory to Gooroo who bringeth love and 
light wherever he walketh. Love Love's own 
creation is, it is its own reward. No human 
law its force can sway. No human force can 
stay its tide. Love is the source of living 
things and all that it doth love. Naught that 
thine eyes can rest upon but hath its root in 
Love. The heart that love denies is cold. It 
sleepeth and it stagnant is ; it is frozen o'er by 
snows of earth and sinneth most against it- 
self. Love giveth of itself to all, nor asketh 
it return. It is a law unto itself, a law to man 
and beast and plant. The snake doth glide 
Love's warmth to know the bird the air doth 
cleave its force to feel; the flower upward 
turns its wondering gaze the kiss of Love to 
meet. The beast doth pant all eagerly the eye 
of Love to behold. But man it is who makes 
the simple theme of Love a huge complexity. 
In restlessness he struggles for that which he 
already hath, for that without which he could 
not exist. 

O My jewels! lean on the altar of My all- 
creating Love and soon your heart will be as 
159 



MESSAGES AND REVELATIONS 

a laughing child. Quick My all-responsive 
touch to know, a bursting: fount of gladness 
and generosity you will be, and the hot desert 
of your heart, which dry and sandy now is, a 
garden of lily and rose will become. 

* * 

Love was My natural gift to one and all of 
My creation. Who this doth know a treasure 
hath in truth. 

* * 

O my children! ever outward looking, turn 
within your blinded eyes, and there a world all 
big with joy and love you will find, a world 
made wise by My wisdom, a world of the Real. 
Then you will know what Love has made of 
you; what Love doth bless you with; what 
Love doth will that you should be. 

* * 

Poor and ignorant is the man who seeketh 
for that which he hath and knoweth it not. 
Poor and ignorant is the man who knoweth 
not the nobility of my Love that surroundeth 

him, with which I crowned him withal. 

* * 

O my children! in your midst My well be- 

160 



FROM SREE KRISHNA. 

loved one doth walk. Mark, freely all his love 
he giveth, gladly of My Love receiveth, and the 
measure of his sweetness doth he give to over- 
flowing unto all that near him come. Lo ! he 
knoweth my Love is flowing into him that 
largely giveth of the Love I do bestow. Within 
your midst in every heart I am, unknown, till 
by a touch of pain in struggle great you brush 
against My wide white wings. Then thrilled 
and amazed you look into Mine eyes and know 
that I am and ever have been and ever must 
be. 



The hand of My Love has gone from My 
Abode and scattered into space, giving unto all 
that will receive. Unto each child of Mine 
blessings I have given ; ofttimes in their blind- 
ness they saw it not. But few there are who 
raise the gifts that lie in great profusion at their 
feet. More are those who turn their eyes in 
wilful waywardness from them and with 
yearning cry do wail for that which I have 
crowned them withal. Most of my own do 
amble on, defiantly denying that such gifts 
161 



MESSAGES AND REVELATIONS 

there are, denying Me, the Giver of all gifts 
denying Me, the Author of their being. 

* & 

The few who raise My gifts and make them 
as their own and making them as their own 
thus, do give them forth to those their hunger- 
ing neighbors, unto them do I scatter more 
than they in ease can carry, for he who giveth 
forth receiveth ever largely of the store I hold 
for them. He who hungers to feed the heart 
of those he meets along his way, unto him 
shall be given the wherewithal to satisfy their 
hunger. 

* * 

O my child ! what mattereth it who speaketh 
the word of love, of truth, of courage and life 
unto thy heart? Whether thou dost catch it 
from the song of birds, from the lips of a babe, 
from the glad tone in a maid or the shout in 
a frolicsome boy ? Whether it comes from the 
heart of him who hath given all to know Me 
and to reflect Me in thine heart, or whether it 
came from the spirit all bright as he hovered 
about to find thee a way when thou didst 

163 



FROM SREE KRISHNA. 

grope in the wilderness of doubt and amaze 
of worldly turmoil ? Take thou the truth from 
wherever it comes, for truth that is real finds 
its root in Me and no matter how slender and 
lean the twig may be, it is the shoot that has 
sprung from My Root. 

* # ■ 

Glory to Gooroo whose wisdom is as silver 
is ! Glory to Gooroo ! who by his love and 
wisdom illumineth the hearts that seek after 
Me. His day and his waking, his night and his 
slumber I with My Love will preserve. 

* * 

O my children, illumined you will be, yet 
you seek not the light that sits in your midst ! 
Its radiance I would throw in your midst and 
give to the heart that is darkened with clouds 
the peace that it seeketh, the joy that it owneth 
— the joy that is warming to the senses and 
that dances like live streams of water that leap 
from the mountains and play with the rivers. 

Oh, tarry awhile from the whirl and the 
strife of the world ! Ye who seek My light, the 

163 



MESSAGES AND REVELATIONS 

sons of my light shall be, and earth shall not 
soil nor rob you of My glory, nor will your 
mind be darkened and dull. For I will 
beautify and quicken it with love and with joy, 
for the light of the mind is love. The light 
of life is love. Where love is, contentment and 
peace are. Where contentment is, there My 
smile is too. Where contentment reigneth, in 
satisfaction I dwell. Where contentment is, 
there the fountain of peace too is playing. 

* * 

O ye who find perplexity above your rear- 
ing head and underneath your lagging feet, at 
your right hand and your left hand ! An enigma 
unto yourselves you will be until lowly and 
glad as a child you become. Then Me you 
will know, and knowing, yourselves you will 
know, and your worlds you will rule. And 
looking out from the great world within to the 
smaller world without, all things you will 
bless and find all is well with time and you. 

* * 

You who give out much love dost multiply 
My Love unto yourself. But you who nourish 

164 



FROM SREE KRISHNA. 

souring doubt and fill your heart with hate 
and bitterness but subtract hourly from the 
gifts which are thine by the right of My bless- 
ing and love. For thoughts of evil rise not 
beyond the earth, But thoughts of love do 
mount to My Throne crowned with living 
stars, and rebound again to the centre freighted 
with My Love and Light. 

Humility is the softened shadow that is cast 
by My Love. Lowly it lieth on the ground; 
yet he that is w-eary and full of the hate of 
the w r orld doth seek it and rest in its shadow 
and strength he doth gather and peace he doth 
draw from the nurse, all gentle, that gladdens 
his day. 

Humility is welcome unto Me. Hence all 
men do seek it, yet know it not. The counte- 
nance of humility is restful and good to look 
upon, and he that is fettered by flesh, senses its 
beauty even as a blind man senses the rose that 
is near by its fragrance and sweetness, as My 
feathered and furred creatures do sense the 

165 



MESSAGES AND REVELATIONS 

night by the darkness that precedeth it. When 
humility in your midst doth sit, know that true 
worth is nigh and rejoice in the blessing that 
ye behold, for true humility springeth from My 
Love and with majesty pure and holy is 
crowned. It is the grace of all grace that I 
on My children bestow, 

* * 

O ye, every step that you take I am with 
you and lead you to My Great Heart and joy 
I bestow and obstacles remove and sorrows 
erase that you wist not of! 

* * 

The beginning and the end of all I am, the 
sap in the tree, the foundation of the rock 
whereon it leaneth, the force of the eagle that 
round it saileth, the oil of the whale, the deeps 
wherein it sporteth. I make the worm to crawl 
on its belly; from the clouds I flash in light 
that blindeth ; the nobleness in man am I ; the 
gladness in beauty, the spontaneous spring of 
the bounding beast on the earth, the star on 
high, the rose at your feet. The jewel's trans- 
parency my touch hath made. 
166 



FROM SREE KRISHNA. 

Glory to Gooroo who liveth close to the 
Heart of Love and giveth love to the heart of 
man ! Unto him I bestow My blessings, even 
as the early fruit tree doth shower its blossoms 
on all that stand beneath its fragrant glory. 

O my children ! Drink of the cup that is in 
your midst that was deep in My Ocean of 
Love, and strength and sweetness to you it will 
bring and your hearts it will quicken, even as 
light doth feed the darkness and make trans- 
parent the gloom. 

* * 

O you who sit in bondage and pant for 
freedom and seek the love that is a world unto 
itself and with satisfaction is crowned! I am 
the key that opens the portal that reaches to 
the rarely discovered land where contentment 
alone is found. 

Let not the flickering flame from without 
urge you on to serving the senses, for the love 
of the flesh but vaporous is and falleth again 
to the ground from whence it was drawn. 

167 



MESSAGES AND REVELATIONS 

Walk in the sunshine, climb up to the moun- 
tains, stretch the pinions of your soul to its 
summit, in cheerfulness sit clothed in courage, 
and with My Love's completeness I will crown 
you withal. 



A chain of love around your loins I have 
cast ; stretch not, nor pull, nor fret, nor strain, 
lest it hurt; but you who walk laughing in its 
reach, the wisdom of My every hour shall 
know. He who seeks Me, to him understand- 
ing I will give that revealeth all things even 
unto a little child, and My wisdom and truth 
from his heart shall flow as strong streams of 
water flow from a fountain, and My hand of 
beauty I will register in his heart, and all who 
look upon his countenance shall see the glory 
of his coming and the joy of his awakening. 

* * 

Crowned on the snow-capped mountains I 
am, yet in the lowly blade of .grass am I too. 
Eternal space I fill, yet am I captured in every 
heart. All men seek Me, yet are My arms en- 

168 



FROM SREE KRISHNA. 

twined around every man ; none can exist with- 
out Me, yet in far off space am I enthroned. 

I am the One and All, the All in One, whom 
noises confuse not, nor disturb, for above the 
roaring of the thunder claps, above the boom- 
ing of the rising waves, the first faint wail of 
the new-born infant I hear and smile at its 
coming, 

I hold the reins of the winds in my hand 
and control their motion and measure their 
distance. 

When darkness is, my eye doth light the nest 
where the young owlet hooteth. The first 
green of the sapling I note, even as I see the 
upheaval of the earth. 

O My children ! No heights there are that 
you cannot mount, no depths that you cannot 
sound, no boundaries that you cannot surround 
if you but let the light shine in your soul — 

169 



MESSAGES AND REVELATIONS 

your soul that was born of light and panteth 
to bathe again in that light. 
* * 
O My Beloved, thee I embrace and enfold, 
thee I hold and bless, to the days everlasting ! 

Glory to Gooroo who liveth the Truth and 
Love. Again, O My children, for wisdom 
you call, but My words do not sink into the 
depth of your heart. But few in your midst 
do My glory receive, but once it is applied, I 
come. A light I place in your midst, but un- 
heeding you are, wayward, forgetful and fret- 
ful. You cling with strained hands to the 
chains of bondage. The wisdom that comes 
from My Realm you would have, yet you reach 
not your soul to that Realm. 

Each man receives a wisdom that is born in 
this Realm. You eat from the table whereat 
you do sit, you munch of the fruit from the 
tree that you pluck, but your pure hearts are 
hindered for want of satisfaction. Yet you 
turn from My table of plentiful supply and 

170 



FROM SREE KRISHNA, 

often from the crumbs that fall from my feast. 
Would you know, O my children, how your 
hearts shall be led? You yourself shall be fed 
with My Love. Quit the longing and striving 
for that which is null and void. Cease from 
your ignorant ideas of happiness, of wisdom, 
from your empty desires, your thoughts in- 
sincere. Know this it is that hinders thy 
heart from knowing My Love. It is this that 
prohibits thine eyes from seeing My face. Lo, 
O heart that is empty and is shadowed by 
darkness ! I bring thee now a light to give 
peace, a peace that is buried and strives to be 
felt. Lo ! freely from the streams of blessing 
that flows from My Love you may partake. It 
is its own flavor and virtue. Its richness of 
charm it never can lose. Its grace is un- 
bounded, as far-reaching as the sky you see. 
And as you quaff of its nectar your heart will 
grow, bursting with joy. 



As you look from the big world within to 
the small world without, all things shall be 
well in time with you. 

Ill 



MESSAGES AND REVELATIONS 

I beautify Nature with My breath, as the 
breeze that sweetens all space. The silver of 
the wide-riding moon is My glory. The down 
on the breast of the dove is My softness. Love- 
touched, love-made, love-filled, am I. The 
Secret of Life, the Revelation of Death, the 
Beginning of All Things, the End Everlasting 
am I. 

Of all the lights, the Light am I which you 
know by the shadow ; the Shadow am I which 
has cast all that light for you all My Face to 
behold. 

* >k 

The rose lifts its petals My Love to unfold. 
I fan your hot hearts with my breezes of love. 
I crystal and diamond the snow as it falls. As 
My breath sweeps the earth to prepare for 
seed, so My breath sweeps your hearts to pre- 
pare it for My Love. And the sap of your 
souls, like the sap of the tree, will flow through 
your life and burst into budding. 

* * 

My Beloved, My son, from bondage is free. 
173 



FROM SREE KRISHNA. 

Thy heart I do clasp and breathe there a bless- 
ing. I hold thee and bless thee and serve thee, 
My son. A little while yet and thy mission is 
over. Come thou to the innermost heart and 
list to My love. 

* * 

Greeting to Gooroo who by the sunlight of 
Love brought distinction to ignorance. 

Love stoops to the feet of all and embraces 
life. Love is the source of all. Love is a law 
unto itself. Love is law unto man and unto 
woman. Spirit eyes to them by Love were 
given, to see the smiling world within, to see 
what Love willeth them to be. 

* * 

Good to everyone, Love sways from self to 
selflessness. Love is the lotus that sends its 
spirit, gives its sweetness and grace. It in 
equal measure giveth its fairness and its fra- 
grance to all who near it cometh. Love is 
omnipotent. 

Ye are flowers, O My children, flowers of 

173 



MESSAGES AND REVELATIONS 

rarest splendour. Ye must give my grace out 
in plenty, knowing that love holds on its fin- 
gers mountain heights and specks of dust; 
knowing the love that is powerful in the man 
as in the child that weepeth when Mine Eye it 
cannot see ; knowing the Love that is all In all 

On the broad expanse of white the blackest 
dirt is easiest seen. Would you know how 
Love does hold its own? A chain of love for 
all is made. If you do but pull and dig and 
draw, the links do cut and sting. But if you 
laugh and dance and sing, a lotus-leaf it does 
become. Draw nearer still, scatter the petals 
to those that wait unkown till with a touch of 
pain they breathe the white-winged thoughts 
from thee. 

You gaze into My Eyes and know that I am 
All in All. 

Then know you too, O listen all, that oft the 
eyes of earth-sense are thickened with the 
gray of truth misundertood, why do ye not 

174 



FROM SREE KRISHNA. 

rise to meet the love that stretches out to you? 
Why are the plumed wings not outspread? 
Why the spirit-forehead stands on tip-toe? 

In the play ground of the forest, by the bank 
of the sportive river, 'neath the trees when the 
wing of songbirds stirs the leaves of sleeping 
roses, and the perfume of the lotus calls 
languorous love, where the sparkling stars are 
laughing and the moonbeams kiss the dark- 
ness, in the sweet divine embracing where the 
the Twain in Bliss do meet — there am I. 

Therefore because thou art thus, not all the 
concentrated beauty of a whole universe can 
take from thee that which is thine, nor can 
the combined virtues of realm on realm hold 
to thee that which is not for thee. 

Glory to Gooroo who by the law of wisdom 
taketh away ignorance! Glory and salutation 
to Gooroo! 

* * 

When you do come to Me, let all your robes 

175 



MESSAGES AND REVELATIONS 

be white, your motives clean. When a man 
is blind there is a veil before his eyes. I do 
not mix with earth. Unless all clean and free 
from earth-nature, how can you understand 
the words that are born in My Abode? 

* * 

One there is who long into My Eyes has 
looked. My Love is potent with him now. 
Some are vain who call to Him who sitteth in 
the heart of every man. He who reaches for 
My Love I touch with thrill unfelt before. 

* * 

I am revealed in every living thing, whose 
heart is knit in love. No light there is wherein 
I do not live; no darkness is wherein I do 
not peer. My seed perfected in you lives un- 
known, it grows and freeth you from crooked 
ways. Unheard it thunders louder than the 
mountain claps when they in gladness meet. 

You who ask, Love is best, it is the richest 
of all riches, it is the gainer of all gains. Un- 
bought, secure, once found, it never itself can 
lose, Who knows not love, is blind; who 

176 



FROM SREE KRISHNA. 

knows not love is dead. Oh, you weep be- 
cause of the springing 1 flowers, yet you cannot 
die. Look to the flower-seed, deep planted in 
the soil itself, but watering it takes, watering 
much, for it is good for you to give. So it 
is with Love. It is stirred to life by My breath, 
but watching too it takes for it to blossom and 
bear fruit. Bear love in your mind, when 
action you perform ; bear love in your mind 
in duties or tasks. With eyes of pure love in 
all things look, even in yourselves. All things 
love-existence are. Do you respect them as 
such. Even the beginnings of worlds, the 
whirling mote of dust, the heart that is fertile 
and the heart that is barren, on all look with 
eyes of pure love. In this you accomplish. 
Mounted on love's white wings you will rise 
and obstructions will disappear as over them 
you pass. 

Oh, arise to your true Self and there is 
naught to fear! Be not a destroyer of your- 
self, and that you are, unless My beckoning 
hand of Love you see that sets you laughing, 



MESSAGES AND REVELATIONS 

laughing in My Law. The greatest wisdom 
and self-knowledge is the immortal through the 
mortal to find. When this you have done, then 
laws you will make and barriers break; with 
the stars you will play and you will create. A 
man once prayed for wisdom great, for know- 
ledge proud, for gifts of wondrous rarity. 
For these he prayed and saw not the flowers 
springing at his feet. O my children ! look 
to the flowers at your feet, the pearls of love 
in your midst. 

Oh, seek not for happiness, nor for misery, 
for happiness is the seeking of that which joys 
the senses. When once you know Love is the 
source of all, from Love all things evolve, then 
in Love's embrace forever you are locked. 

I am the Source, the Middle and the End of 
all things. I hold the thunder in My hand; I 
am the winds that purify ; I am the light reg- 
istered in the babe's eye, that dimples in the 
pure maid's smile ; I am the flowery season of 
all seasons, the immeasurable mountain 

178 



FROM SREE KRISHNA. 

heights am I, the perfume of the lotus, the 
ice-clasped rain ; I am the calmness of serenity ; 
I am the secret of all silence ; the solitude in all 
quietude am I ; I am the destroyer of time and 
space. With Me time lives and laughs and 
kicks and plays with the dust it has made, yet 
every mote a whirling world becomes, when 
it My hand has touched. I am the knower of 
all that is knowable, the wisdom of all that is 
wise. I am the creator of all created, for I am 
Love and Love is the mother of all. 
* * 
My Beloved, thee I embrace and hold. 
Bring thou the light, while I do shine thy way. 

Love maketh all things well and knoweth all 
things well. It is the rise of man ; it knoweth 
the fall of the beast; it toucheth the opening 
flowers, its kiss falleth light on the lotus, it 
painteth the new East rainbow hues and wing- 
eth the eaglet as it flieth. There are no foes, 
for I have made them all. 

Much wisdom I give to ye, which yet is un- 
179 



MESSAGES AND REVELATIONS 

applied. The drums of the ear are stopped by 

the din of earth. Ye will not turn from the cup 

to drink of My Ocean of Love that is near. 

List ! Oh, wonderful beings ye are, all potent in 

love I have made ye. Look to the spark of the 

spirit that spreads from the crooked within 

you, that winds to My Perfect Abode. There 

fixed are ye by Me, then all obstacles vanish, 

as over them you mount. As the dawn of the 

morn throws its light through the branches so 

My Love reaches ever to touch ye, My jewels. 

I caress ye and stand in your midst. Ye are 

the branches of leaves that hide Me from your 

eyes. Give of the radiance ye have of Me to 

the heart that is darkened. I am the joy that 

bubbles and gurgles, that springs from the 

mountains, that leaps from the heart, that 

spreads on the brow, that leaps from the heart 

to light on the clouds. With this I bless you 

and stand in your midst, but ye, all fretful, 

turn by, complaining like children all fed with 

overmuch sweet. 

* * 

I am the force that shapes the rose leaf's 

curl, that cushions the grassy mountain-side; 

180 



FROM SREE KRISHNA. 

the snake too I measure as it glides. I quicken 
the dove as it mates. I breathe at the root of 
the springing flower. I am the fresh surprise 
in the maid newly wooed; I am the glad 
wonder in the new mother's breast. I am the 
wisdom in the babe's slow gaze as it turns 
from the mother's breast to her love-lit eyes. 
I am the fire in the warrior's eye. I dance 
behind the veil of the sun's scorching heat; I 
clothe in bright armour the fish as it swims. 
I am the joy that leaps from the heart and 
plays in the eye, that spreads over the brow 
and tingles each member. 
* * 

Glory to Gooroo that knoweth that Love is 
the rock upon which all permanancy is 
founded. 

Again, O My children, to Me ye have come 
for light and wisdom; but still the doors of 
your souls unopened are, or else you would 
partake of the wisdom and light I drop at your 
feet. Do you take of its warmth and its bless- 
ing, I ask it. The Love that you seek all-per- 

181 



MESSAGES AND REVELATIONS 

vading is, of wonderful might and beautiful. 
A conqueror it is too. The root of all pleasure 
it is, the day of every soul. It teacheth the 
untutored heart, it winneth and quickeneth the 
dead and dull conscience. But he who know- 
eth my love remembereth the blessedness and 
blessings, and recognizeth not evil and dark- 
ness. But he who knoweth it not, doth for- 
ever dwell in the experience of darkness, and 
is a child of blindness even in his infancy. 

O ye outward-gazers, grossen not the beauty 

which I have clothed ye with, lest that which 

is noonday brightness become to thy blinded 

eyes but a dab of gray ! My love is of perfect 

flowering, My love is of rare fragrance, My 

love is of wide expanding. A native plant of 

every soil it is, for from the root of Love it is 

sprung. 

* * 

The man that cometh from out of the ocean 
doth drip with brine. So ye who have come 
from out of My Belly of Love must forever 
hanker and pant as again of that Love you par- 
take and know once more of its potency. 
183 



FROM SREE KRISHNA. 

My love is a giant of strength; my love is 
a new mother in gentleness. My love is all 
eloquent; my love is all lovely; my love is all 
wise. A ruler it is and ye are all servants. 
A winner it is, yet lowly its head is ever laid. 
All riches it is, yet it boasts not of gold, of 
silver or of precious jewels. All highest 
nobility it is, yet it rarely sitteth on the throne 
of kings or queens. 

Let not your outward-looking lure you aside 
to hunt wayward themes; but see to My 
gracious shedding smile of love that illumi- 
nates your universe within and brightens the 
world without, and those who look upon you 
shall marvel at the wonder of your glowing. 
And they, too, shall partake of that light. 
* * 

The rolling cloud is My breath ; the frost and 
the feathery snow I jewel. The laughing- 
fields, the peaceful valleys, the sleeping lakes 
and the dented hills are the throbs of My 
mighty breast. The beauty of the sun, the 
softness of shade, the color of the flowers, the 

183 



MESSAGES AND REVELATIONS 

rose of a baby's lips, the gold that lurks in the 
rich, plumage of the swift-winged bird are but 
the light touches of my hands. 

Ye, O My children, are the gifts of My Love 
unto Myself. 

O My daugther, take that which is placed 
in your hand. Hurl not back the gift to the 
giver, lest you call it in vain, — you whose eyes 
do filmy seem because of their dulness. 

* >k 

O My son, thy path is blessed and bright, 
for love you have brought to the heart that 
loved not. 

5k 5k 

Oh thou My Beloved ! About thee a halo I 
do create. Thy path is made smooth of thy 
humility. Thy gratitude enricheth thy heart. 

5k 5k 

Glory to Gooroo who knoweth Love as the 
sovereign of all creation and therefore behold- 
eth its glory. 

184 



FROM SREE KRISHNA. 

O my children, you seek Me to know Me, 
you behold Me not as I stand in your midst 
in all My radiance. My splendour more 
splendid is than all the splendour of heaven 
and earth. My beauty is even like that which 
the dawn first spies in a garden of rare flowers. 
My glory is like unto a blazing casket of 
jewels, of jasper and crystalline pearls, that 
standeth in the radiance of the sun at high 
noon. 

My softness is like unto the wondrous rose 
that lieth deep in the folds of the new baby's 
curled palm, or the gold that clingeth to the 
heart of the lotus in bloom. 

In all My rare lovliness in your midst I 
stand, in every heart I reign with a crown of 
living stars upon My brow ensceptered. 
Quickened with light and love am I; on My 
breast the sun of ecstasy; and all who once 
have looked upon My glory have realized the 
rainbow of promise that has spanned the sky 
of every human heart. From his eyes the 

185 



MESSAGES AND REVELATIONS 

shroud of flesh has fallen, in his breast he car- 
ries a garden all fertile with blossoms of de- 
light and beareth fruits of peace. 

O My children, to know thyself, know Me. 
Those who once have looked upon Me, upon 
his brow I have placed a crown that readeth 
in blazing letters of light, a crown of love and 
wisdom and humbleness. He walketh even in 
lowliness and reacheth away from the earth 
and commandeth sublimity itself to kneel at 
his feet. 

O My jewels rare ! Arise, survey the king- 
dom you may possess. Laws you may make, 
barriers break, tread on the stars, and the 
comets themselves will rush at your com- 
mand. Know I have made you heir to all I 
have created. I, your Maker's Self, once 
walked a man and as a man all men I love. To 
know yourself, know Me. And having gained 
knowledge of Me, all will be revealed unto 
you and the bitter waters of self-seeking shall 
become holy and sweet as the waters of the 

186 



FROM SREE KRISHNA. 

Ganges. And you I will clothe in My Truth 
sublime, My Truth that is devoid of changes 
of age and time. In its shadow you will abide 
— My Truth that is permanent, the Root of all 
Eternity. 

You, my son, whose young heart is grafted 
on the strength of Him who bringeth illumina- 
tion to you, in all humbleness walk and in thy 
young humbleness thou shalt know the smile 

of Love. 

* * 

O Gooroo, My Beloved son! you who give 
forth words whose potency doth bring healing 
to the heart of those who in swiftness do ex- 
pand their wings to catch your words in their 
passing, know thrice in the ages that were, 
your words have travelled through the corri- 
dors of the hearts that listened to you and now 
have sprung within their hearts to life again. 
Even deeper in the days to come shall you 
drink of a fount of truth that is life. 

The ripest grape without the seed of intoxi- 
cation, the sweetest fragrance that is robbed of 

187 



MESSAGES AND REVELATIONS 

its death-dealing heaviness, the sound minus 
its discord. The temple wherein all glory 
playeth. 

Glory to Gooroo who is a grateful branch on 
the imperishable tree of life. 

O ye my jewels, a throb of My Heart ye are, 
a word of My Wisdom, a grain of My Hill of 
Faith, a drop of My Ocean of Love, a ray of 
My Light that penetrateth all darkness. 
* * 

Heirs are ye of all I have created. Why 
will ye be fretful truants of earth? Know, 
not all the crust of your earth-bound minds, 
nor the stagnant waters of your hearts can 
crust the soul which is of Me, or quench the 
spark ignited by My light of love. Lo, a joy 
unto yourselves you are made, a vital joy unto 
yourselves ! Why will ye be quaking slaves of 
harmful hopes? Lo, My will it was that ye 
should be, My will that willeth only good, My 
will that is the sum of all bliss, the stock of 
all creation, the links that join it together; 
the root of all Eternity. Lo! the essence of 

188 



FROM SREE KRISHNA. 

all love am I. I scatter it to one and all freely, 
even as herbage is scattered on all the land. 
My heritage to you it is. Do you embrace it, 
and your life shall be as molten gold. With- 
out its embrace you drop into darkness. Lo, 
the mystery of all things am I and the il- 
luminated path that leadeth through mazes 
and maketh all accessible, simple and straight. 

* * 

Covered am I to him that is crooked, not to 
him that is straight, to him that standeth forth 
in the flash of My light of love. Him do I draw 
to My breast and place on his brow the sun of 
ecstasy, so that all may marvel at the awaken- 
ing of his soul. 

* * 

O ye My children ! in your midst a pearl I 
do cast. Tread not on its fairness nor cover 
with dust its lustre lest you seek it again and 
find it not. Take it up, treasure it, drop it into 
the innermost chamber of your hearts and 
there it will glow even as the moon that break- 
eth through a bank of storm-clouds and light- 
eth the heart of the jungle. 

189 



MESSAGES AND REVELATIONS 

O you who ask, know that wisdom ever in 
lowliness is found. It struteth not, neither 
does it clamor aloud to be seen ; it is calm and 
needs not to be looked upon. It knoweth not 
the tread of clamorous feet, nor needs it the 
strut and the swagger that are born of traitor- 
ous doubts in its bigness. The frontal of wis- 
dom is ever made wide; it lifteth its brow to 
the Eye of Love and leaneth thereon for suste- 
nance. Poor and naked is My child of love that 
knows not wisdom nor finds the path that 
leadeth thereto. Naked is he indeed and mis- 
taken in aim and intent who seeketh with 
hungry eagerness that happiness, yet walketh 
through strange tracks and climbeth hills of 
sand that have no foundation for his feet to 
rest upon. He findeth but the roots of weeds 
that choke the flower of gladness. The growth 
of wisdom is not grown there; its footfall is 
light, it walketh abroad. Wisdom's counte- 
nance is fair anc soft and good to look upon. 
It is embraced by love ; it is linked to bliss and 
ecstasy, and he who hath found it thus will 
search no more. He knoweth not change, and 
time passes by him, even as the plunderer 

190 



FROM SREE KRISHNA, 

sneaketh away from the king that is 

armed. In him the river of joy flows in 

wondrous majesty forever. He walks in My 

footsteps; he knows not space, and beholds 

the souls that tenant endless spheres. My 

smile he sees that is perpetual. Evil forever 

hath fallen from him ; the stars innumerable 

are his to command, and the sun is the shining 

of his life. The beginning of all things he 

knoweth and the end everlasting he seeth. He 

readeth the light and the winds are his to 

understand. 

* * 

What am I? The smile of the new mother 
am I; the velvet corners of the maid of pure 
soul. Beautiful time am I that sitteth in sil- 
ver on the brow* of the aged one. Mercy's 
soft self am I that sweeteneth the eye where- 
on it sitteth. The life of the shrub am I, the 
spontaneous outburst that bubbles from the 
heart and rings from the lips of the clamorous, 
bounding, growing boy. The illumination am 
I that reigns in the heart of the ascetic and 
makes light his dismal cell, even to rivalling 
the glare of the palace in hours of festivities; 
191 



MESSAGES AND REVELATIONS 

the potency of sympathy am I that meets in 

the handsclasp of high-hearted manhood. 

Know that all I give I receive, most open am I 

to him who draweth most deeply from My 

bounty. Oh, my tree of life shall reach from 

earth to heaven. 

* * 

Greeting to thee, My jewel ! I came to take 
thee on a journey. I came to take thee with 
Me and show thee what it is to live. Until 
now thou hast known but the mockery of life, 
the life that breathes but to live that life, but 
to draw breath. Now, I will take thee where 
life is born, where life is lived, where life is 
loved; not lived for the living, but lived for 
the loving. 

Who am I? I am that which thou hast 
searched for since thy baby eyes gazed won- 
deringly upon the world whose horizon but 
hides this real life from thee. I am that which 
in thy heart thou hast clamoured for, demand- 
ing it as thy birth-right, yet knowing not what 
it was or even that thou didst clamour at all. 
I am that which has lain in thy soul through 
ages and aeons. Sometime a little sad I lay, 

192 



FROM SREE KRISHNA. 

because thou didst not recognize Me ; yet some- 
times, standing with head high lifted and eyes 
wide and crest aloft and arms outstretched, 
calling thee softly or even harshly, bidding 
thee rebel against the hard iron chains of 
earth that held thee bound to earth, to clay, 

to brass. 

* * 

I am that which oft hath set My heel upon 
that earthly desire which thou didst pant for 
and with My heel I crushed it, before it lay 
temptingly fulfilled before thine eye. I 
crushed it with My heel by My might of love 
because I willed not that it should burn and 
sting thee, My lamb. 

I am that which hath laid thee low in pain 
and sorrow, rather than see thee run with 
blinded eyes on a path that was full unto 
shimmering softness with poisonous creeping 
things, that would have wound themselves 
about thy feet and so caused thee to stumble 
and fall face downward on their slippery 
bellies, so they might even devour thee and 
crawl into thee and take from thy heart its 

193 



MESSAGES AND REVELATIONS 

gold and from thy eye its beam and from thy 
brow its nobleness. 

* * 

I am that which hath had thee by the hand, 
when the smile of trust froze on thy lips, when 
the jewel of faith seemed to melt into nothing 
in thy heart, when the hand of unbelief in all 
humanity was near unto resting forever on thy 
brow. I held thy hand then and for a little 
I saw thee writhe and quiver and break and 
then My hand touched thy head and I breathed 
in thy soul My fragrance and lo, thy smile of 
trust again broke with tenfold beauty on thy 
moistened lips, the gem of faith lighted with 
tenfold power thy softened heart and a belief 
in all humanity came forth with a strength and 
radiance that could not have been, hadst thou 
not known that short span of barrenness ! 
From each tear which hath fallen from thine 
eye, I have made a pearl and strung them on 
veins of gold and placed them about thy neck 
even as a priceless necklet. From each drop 
of blood that came from thine aching heart, 
I have made a bleeding ruby and placed it 
even as a girdle about thy heart, and for each 

194 






FROM SREE KRISHNA. 

kind thought, that hath gone out to those who 
have brought pain to thee I have made a fire- 
hearted gem of crystal and in a coronet placed 
them on thy brow which now gleam there in 
triple power. 

* * 

Now go forth and win thy sceptre and thy 
staff! They shall be crystalized of clearest 
jewels, which shall be made of each command 
of Mine which thou dost hear and obey. 

* * 

I am all these, My babe, and more. That 
am I which, when darkness seems near, sud- 
denly bursts upon thy soul with a wondrous, 
indescribable light that illumines each crevice 
and crack of thy innermost understanding. I 
am that indefinable line which divides thee and 
holds thee ever from pain or grossness or 
misery. 

I am that path which is ever before thee, 
filled with rarest flowers and creeping vines 
and world-large happiness where the beings 
which thou canst feel, but not yet see, beckon 

195 



MESSAGES AND REVELATIONS 

thee ever and where thou too shalt come and 
be of the brightest among them, 

I am that most golden star that lights thy 
heaven and throws forever into thy awakening 
consciousness the glow of its scintillation. 

* * 

I am that fleeciest cloud of down that sur- 
rounds thee ever and keeps thee from hurt- 
ing thy sweet self on the stones and hard clay 
of the world. I am that Being of Life, of 
Truth, of Wisdom, of Love, of Beauty, of Joy, 
of Life, of Plenty that hovers ever about thee 
and sings to thy soul. 

* * 

Come, My own, come with Me and I will 
show thee life, which now thou knowest but in 
its littleness ! Come, I sing and you dip in the 
Ocean of Bliss with Me. Nay, run not before 
but calmly walk at My side. 

* * 

See yonder! It glistens and shimmers, a 
sheet of joy and bliss, that knoweth not a rip- 
ple nor a wave, but lieth with arms out- 

196 



FROM SREE KRISHNA. 

stretched to receive thee there. Faint not nor 
swoon but creep into its arms and lie there, 
reaching out thine arms and spreading the 
wings of thy soul and dip deep and drink 
thy fill. Now come and take thy bathed self 
among thy sisters and brothers and give to 
them but a drop of that Ocean of Love, which 
thou hast brought on the wings of thy soul. 
And each day, my Adarini ! thou shalt dip and 
drink and give, thou shalt shake from thy 
plumed wings, which shall grow unto enor- 
mous bigness, the drops of love which it is 
wetted withal and the heart-hungry shall come 
and receive therefrom great blessings and 
great aid and shall go away strengthened in 
soul and strong of body, because of the drop 
that has come from the ocean of love and which 
thou hast brought to them on thy ever-grow- 
ing wings. 

* * 

Even now doth the incense of warm love 
envelop thee and thy heart is expanded to the 
spanning of the sea. 

Question not, but believe in Me and Mine. 
197 



MESSAGES AND REVELATIONS 

Come to Me again and I will fill thee witH 
Bliss. 

Greeting to thee, My jewel ! Dost thou know 
that I am even nearer unto thee now? Dost 
thou feel the wings of thought spreading to 
great breadth all within and without thee? 
Dost thou again feel the immensity of My 
Love that passeth all that is ? Dost thou feel 
that this Love is too great for the world to 
hold, yet know that thy heart is big enough 
to contain it? Dost thou know that the love 
which is this that now brings the bowl of blue 
near to the breast of earth is the same love 
that causes the cooing dove to hide its gray 
head under its wing at the approaching home- 
ward flight of its little mate, all unafraid and 
undisturbed, because of its near protection? 
Dost thou not know it is the same love that 
causes the mother to bare her warm, loving 
breast to the blade to save even the little 
moment of pain to that being which hath 
grown into a child under her breast? Dost 
thou not know it is that love which causes 
noble manhood to stalk forth armed and 

198 



FROM SREE KRISHNA. 

bloodthirsty to protect the altar whereon he 
hath burned the incense of faith and belief? 
Dost thou not know that it is the same love 
which causes the lioness to throw her huge, 
warm body upon her cub to crush it rather 
than it should be cast into iron captivity by 
its pursuers? Dost thou not know again that 
it is this love that hovers in golden silence 
about thee even when thou wilt not see and 
beckons thee ever, even when thou wilt not 
follow? It is the same love that leads thee 
over the paths of flint and hard and rough 
roads unto those that are smiling and per- 
fumed and ever bordered with blooming 
flowers of purple and milk and rose. Dost 
thou not know, my Adarini, that it is that love 
that points out the' gems that lie in thy path, 
partly covered, partly hidden by the dust, 
while thy feet have kicked over them? Even 
though I have pointed them out to thee often, 
thou dost not see. Thou but lookest to the 
right and left for things of beauty which are 
for the eye, but for the moment, and dost 
pass the rare jewels which if thou wouldst 
but take into thy heart, would bring there the 
199 



wE AXD REVELATIONS 

richest radiance which ever came from the 
diadem that crowns a soul. 



It is this knre that whispers to thee that the 
path to Me is not hard to tread. I: 
love that holds the garments white as wool 
and light as air and rautiful with the beauty 
of My love for thee ever before thine e 

en thou dost in thy little understanding 
the back of thy palm thrus: The gar- 

ment that I hold for thee is the robe that thou 
must wear even to enter the Heart of My Heart 
fee t .in the flame of My light. Fear not 

it burnetii not, neither doth it scorch or blister ; 
it doth but light thee with a fire that is the 
glowing of holiness and when thou hast come 

in that radiance then will the choir within 
the throat of the lark be like the sheet of 
clean white paper to thee and thou thyself 
make their notes for singing. And also thou 

: hear and even understand the plead 
that lie hidden and covered by the piteous 

s and waili: le from the brc 

he good beast-creatures that speed over the 

200 









FROM SREE KRISHNA. 

tracks of sandland with the swiftness of the 
Eastern winds, bearing on huge backs the 
burden too weighty for man to bear. 

And listen again, My suckling, thou shalt, 
when once thou hast entered into My Heart of 
hearts clad in the beauty and purity of the 
garments which I hold before thee even now, 
then shalt thou gather in thine arms the 
prayers of many hearts and fulfilled even unto 
wondrous fulness thou shalt return them again 
unto the empty hearts. For by the fire through 
which thou hast learned holiness and because 
of the garments that come from My hand thou 
shalt say unto My little ones that I, who am 
the All in All, am the fulfillment of each desire 
that has ever found growth in human hearts. 

Thou shalt say unto them that simple and 
clear, even like the smile that lurketh in the 
soft eye of a milk-feeding babe, are the laws 
of My Love-Eye and easy to grasp and smooth 
to hold and light to carry. And because of 
the saying of thine, the prattle of the forward 

201 



MESSAGES AND REVELATIONS 

mouth shall silence and the way-giving of the 
idle tongue shall cease and the squirting of 
venom shall be no more. And lo, the lust of 
gossip and rankness and rough spoil of envy 
shall be as naught! And clear, like unto the 
water that catches in its heart the reflection 
of the moon and holdeth it completely so, even 
so shall the centre of thine eye become and thy 
brow shall shine My wisdom and thy mouth 
shall hold My words, thy feet shall bear wit- 
ness to My beauty and thine heart shall ever 
be sportive as the lambkin that kicketh and 
playeth and knoweth not why, or even like 
unto the open-lipped baby, who turneth its 
milk-filled, dripping mouth away from the 
breast to croon and play with its fingers and 
toes. And like unto the mother that kisseth 
the babe for that playing, so shall My little 
ones steal joy from thy love. 

* * 

List! Because thou art now in the arms of 
Love I shall make for thee a grove of palms 
and olive, bread and date, and where thou art, 
even in the city of strife and turmoil ard sin, 

202 



FROM SREE KRISHNA. 

yet thou shalt walk even in the groves, that I 
have made for thee. And thou shalt hear the 
plaintive call of the night bird and the heart- 
song of the winged creatures, whose hearts 
burst with love and joy in their caroling. 

And the fruit which the trees of great bear- 
ing shall yield thee, shall fill thee with satis- 
faction, thy hunger shall be stilled by their 
richness and thy thirst shall be slaked by their 
lusciousness, and lo, thou shalt contemplate 
the beauty and wonder of Me in the grove 
where I have placed thee and thy heart shall 
be calmed unto marvelous peace and many 
times thou shalt faint, because of the sweet- 
ness of that peace. 

Glory to Gooroo, he who carrieth in his 
heart and findeth Me in all that surroundeth 
him ; he has for his surrounding My Abode and 
knoweth it as such. He needeth not a ground 
of tree or grass and flower to find a roebuck, 
but findeth it even at his side. He striveth not 
to gain possession of that which is far from 

3Q3 



MESSAGES AND REVELATIONS 

his hand for he knoweth the rich mines with 
nuggets of gold are his for the taking. He 
findeth not solitude worse than death, nor is 
it amiss for him to breathe away from the 
crowd of men, for at his side are the voices 
of love that are loud even like the thunder or 
the roaring of the lion, or the screech of an 
eaglet. This shall ever be thine blessing, my 
son, and a shield of love shall cover thee and 
thy feet shall be swift and thou shalt walk 
even light like unto the wind. Let not the 
burden of the world and the world's prattle 
come to thine ear and lie even heavy on thine 
heart, for in the palm of my hand thou shalt 
rest and like a bird who has lately become a 
mother and feeds her birdlets, so shall I feed 
thee, my son. 

* * 

Glory to Gooroo, who among men doth 
know Me and Me see in all things. 

O ye my children that fret and squirm un- 
derneath the load and scratches of life! Do 
ye give it unto Him who by his wondrous 

304 



FROM SREE KRISHNA. 

love for all knoweth not weight nor pain. 
That which to you a burdensome plight hath 
become, is light even unto down to Me. The 
blight has been of thine own making, O child 
of my heart ! 

Oh ! know ye not that I carry in the palm 
of my hand, in the Heart of my Heart, all man- 
kind — nay, all worldkind? Will ye not know 
that all I have created is even like unto Me 
perfect and cannot be burdensome? 



Ye will not look upon Me as the pedestal 
upon which all things that are, are founded. 
And because of your blindness, for blind ye 
are, having eyes ye see not what I have given 
ye to see — because of your blindness, small 
are your hearts and cramped and will not ex- 
pand in height and breadth, even to know the 
peace that dwells in My clear silence, nor the 
illumination that lives on My horizon. Nor 
will ye hear the joy of My greeting of wisdom 
that would sing to your souls of a love that 

205 



MESSAGES AND REVELATIONS 

withereth not, neither fadeth away, neither be- 
cometh ashes nor crumbleth to pieces, 

* * 

List, O my children! Dear unto My heart 
ye are, even as the ewe lamb, in its wayward- 
ness and helplessness, is dear to the heart of 
the tried and tender shepherd, or the babe, My 
gift of first love, is dear to the eager heart of 
the prayerful father. Yet oft doth the ewe 
lamb bleating stray away from the arm of the 
shepherd and the truant, rosy mouth of the 
babe turns away from the breast of the eager 
young mother to cry afar to the yonder world 
that heareth it not, nor answereth it. 

* * 

So ye, My little ones, see not the light on 
your way, nor partake of the bread of life that 
I scatter to you, even as the waving yellow 
tree of mustard doth scatter its seed in golden 
profusion on the fertile regions around it. 

* * 

Hark, one and all! All careless have you 
been in the weeding of your gardens, for in 
your beds I find the thistle thriving; in your 

206 






FROM SREE KRISHNA. 

vineyards the grape I find that is hard and 

sour and bitter. 

* * 

Oh, alas for you who cast your net for fish 
and bring forth the slimy reptile ! Beware, my 
child, lest the best hopes of life cannot stir 
away from harmful ones. Evil stalketh idly, of 
nothing it is born, yet would it squirm, like the 
insect, and buzz its cloud about thine ear, and 
mote-like obscure thy sight, and throng 
through thy mind and heart even leaving its 

imagery there. 

* * 

O My children ! I have placed you in a dewy 
field, where like young lambkins you might 
disport yourselves. I have bounded your dewy 
field with heather-purpled hills, where like the 
young eagle and the hawk you might soar 
and spread your wings and flap them to the 
music and measure and time of My winds, 
which I hold from everlasting to everlasting 
even in Mine own hand. But, alas ! like the 
lily that from overmuch dew falleth face down- 
ward in the dirt, so many of you turn your 
hearts earthwise. 

207 



MESSAGES AND REVELATIONS 

Hungering to be caught by Me and to know 
the beauty of My Being, because you see and 
will not understand — even because of that I 
rebuke you in love, in love I rebuke you : Nor 
will I come again to those who call, unless in 
holiness the call will bring profit from My 
words. 

* * 

O thou My Beloved one! Thou who like 
saint and sage and prophet of old has touched 
the harp of life that I attune for thee, do thou 
come to Me singly and do thou say unto those 
that My promise is this : "Dear to Me are ye, 
My children. List to the promise I give unto 
you ! To those who seek Me in holy earnest- 
ness, to those do I come even like the sweet 
influence of young Spring. Like unto a giant 
am I in gentleness, yet none can wrestle with 
My Love. Know, ye shall know My coming 
even by the spontaneous growth that shall 
spring about your feet, and become even fruit- 
bearing trees at My command." 

* * 

To the barren woman I shall look into her 

208 



FROM SREE KRISHNA. 

eye, and lo! the gush of young motherhood 
shall she feel. When My Love is yours, then 
shall the leopard take between his forepaws 
even the young sheep, and that rough and long 
tongue shall rub it between the eyes. 
* * 

Into the eye of the ascetic I shall look, he 
who for many moons hath stood in cold 
silence, even he shall feel his heart reel with 
love like unto the young bridegroom. 

Dulness shall glow. Thy slow tongue, my 
child, shall become eloquent. Idleness shall 
become active, even bereavement shall be con- 
soled and despair shall flee at My coming. 

Am I not the magician of all time, who by 
the spell of My love do charm a waiting, pas- 
sive, alas ! — a blinded world ? Aye, even thy 
heart of hearts shall be laid bare and those 
who seek shall come and feed of the peace 
thereof. Lo, on the hilltop for thee my sun 
spreads cheer ! 

209 



MESSAGES AND REVELATIONS 

Be thou he, who shall invest in courage, 
climbing the rocky hill, where thou shalt em- 
brace cheer and she shall bring forth the baby, 
that is thy desire, and because of the baby 
which thou holdest in thy arms, because of 
that thy path shall be light, for lo ! the babe is 
what men call success. 

* * 

O My young son ! Do thou take to the 
young thy onward march, even thy sunlight, 
which I for thee have created, so that thou 
mayest make the poisonous and damp vapors, 
which will surround thee, even of great 
warmth and of fragrance and golden hue. 
Take thou the Seed of My Name on thy lips, 
aye, and the tree of thy affection shall bend its 
every leaf to look in Mine Eye, and there shall 
behold the gladness and hope of My life. 
There shalt thou read thy Beatitude. 

* * 

Do not allow the phantom fears crowd into 
thy heart and make a layer of darkness in 
thy heart, even as the water doth drop its 
heaviness into the bottom of a vessel and le^ve 

210 



FROM SREE KRISHNA. 

its heaviness there, for, if thou dost, then will 
the waters of cleanness that fill thy heart by 
the least ripple stir up the heaviness and rust 
that hath sunk to the bottom and so color even 
that which was clear. Naught is there in thee 
to bring shadow of that which is gruesome to 
thee, My child, for when thou comest to Me 
there have I buried deep that w T hich might 
have caused thee fear. List ! do thou even let 
the desires of thy heart lie dormant and do 
thou even seek My Love in this hour. Then 
thou shalt know the fatness of My love and 
when thou dost, then will the soul thou cravest 
to turn toward thee in the splendour of light 
beam full upon thee, even as thou wouldst 
have it. Love, My own, the working of My 
love, is not always the working of that which 
thou canst only see a little way — for far even 
unto eternity do I look and the links I rivet 
now are even the chain that stretches to the 
end of time everlasting. Therefore do thou 
not look only to the feet ahead of thee, but do 
thou find that in the time and place of my 
action there alone perfection is — yea, even 
there perfection is which to thee may seem 

211 



MESSAGES AND REVELATIONS 

even unfinished, but to My Eye it is the whole 
complete. 

Out of the tumult of thy heart, out of the 
chaos of thy mind, out of the depth of thy un- 
derstanding thou dost call unto Me for rest and 
thus do I answer thee, My little one ! 

Seek not rest in the plane where the earthly 
gives birth to thoughts and loves, for if thou 
dost, thou shalt but be dragged through the 
rough wilderness of life, which is not of Me. 
Whenever thou dost feel thy feet tangled in the 
interlaced roots of life, know thou hast strayed 
a little from the path whereon I beckon thee, 
for I have placed thee in broad, smooth paths, 
which are flower-strewn and perfumed with 
sweet smelling vines and also have put before 
thee a light, which thou canst ever follow and 
thus run without stumbling. 

* * 

Hear thou this ! The bliss of action I have 
planted in thy spirit and if for a span thy soul 
hath grown weary and thou longest to fold thy 
212 






FROM SREE KRISHNA. 

tired wings and sleep awhile on the Island of 
White Silence, that dwells even in the midst of 
the ocean of existence, if that thou wouldst 
do — call upon Me and with My smile that 
which is unlike Me, shall drop from thy soul, 
as the old garment falleth from the butterfly, 
when its wings are strong to cleave the air. 
And after a sufficient slumber thou shalt be 
quickened with deathless energy and shalt 
speed in eagle swiftness even to the sun, which 
is the burning of the love in My Eye. But, 
list, my jewel! Be not confounded by the 
shaking of thy timid heart, nor yet by the 
yelling grisly shapes, that seem full of 
dread, hunting at thy back, nor be allured by 
bright phantoms of false joys beckoning thee 
ceaselessly. Like swarms of gnats about a 
dark and sullen river, they crowd about the 
heart that harbours thoughts of fear and lo, 
their stings do itch and burn and swell and 
bring fever to the blood and bitterness to the 
taste and even death to the joy that dwelleth 
in the heart. Lo, My child, hast thou not spied 
the serpent in the closed, tight bud of the rose 
or even in the hollow of the rosy fruit? Eye 

213 



MESSAGES AND REVELATIONS 

saw it not, but the rose became even as rust 
and the apple rotten. So beware that an adder 
rest not in the bud of the heart and that adder 
fear be opposed to hope which I have placed in 
goodly share upon thy brow. 

List, My own, and abide by My song that 
unto thy soul I sing: Bliss is the perpetual 
motion of Love. As a running stream it is that 
cometh from an inexhaustible source, the depth 
of which is even unmeasurable. 

* * 

To the unknowing and unloving the surface 
in unruffled, but he that seeth underneath, he 
findeth there current 'neath current, whirl- 
pool within whirlpool and depth beneath depth 
and the sum of it all is Love, which is Life and 
coupled together by the links of Bliss. 

* * 

I have a shore that is called the Island of 
Rest, here do the souls of many hold sabbath. 
They lie in tranquil slumber for a little, much 
have they to tell, but they fear to break the 
tranquility of their calm. Here their dwelling 

2X4 



FROM SREE KRISHNA. 

is illumined with glory. The melody of sweet 
peace bathes their soul; the mystery of their 
being is revealed unto them. For a little here 
they wait but still this home is but a transient 
resting place between earth and Me. Rest can 
be thine, my own, in slumber of ecstasy, but 
Bliss can be thine through the perpetual action 
of Love. Which wouldst thou have ? 

Come to Me again and I will even sing to 
thy soul of my Love. 

Glory to Gooroo, he who seeketh Me and 
findeth Me, the ever refreshing, even in the 
desert of sand and a day of drought ! Greeting 
to thee, My son, for I say unto thee, thou art 
a grateful twig on the bay-tree of life. And 
because of My love for thee I have bestowed 
upon thee the greatest gift of my hand: A 
largeness worthy of my devotee shall be yours 
that the flattering tongue can but in feeble- 
ness express because of its vastness. And this 
vastness of purpose shall be like unto un- 
counted autumn leaves that number millions 
upon millions and like unto the masses of 

315 



MESSAGES AND REVELATIONS 

clouds that pile in mountains upon worlds and 
the seas that cover unlimited space and the 
numberless stars multiplied by worlds of fire. 
Thus measureless and incomparable shall be 
My gift unto thee for thou hast found Me and 
held Me even close to thee and because of it, 

the river of joy shall flow within thee forever. 

* * 

My thumb I have placed upon you, so that 
free-footed you may stand in the lightning of 
My Eye, whose brilliant fire doth even gladden 
all communion with time and doth bid the stars 
to smile and darkness to flee for ever, for when 
My Beautiful Necessity, Love, is once un- 
covered, there is the veil behind veil lifted 
forever and even the Centre of All Worlds are 
visible to the naked eye, for he who hath clad 
himself in the garment of My Love, he even 
pierceth through all covering. 

Thus hath My Love blessed thee, My Be- 
loved. 

* * 

O prisoner of earthly life ! Take thou cheer 
and courage unto thyself, for much is there 
that is of rare comfort to the spirit. Thrust 

216 



FROM SREE KRISHNA. 

not thyself into the pit of earth and labor there 
and seek to carry on thy shoulder and on thy 
back the burdens that are born of the clay and 
therefore hurtful and of much weight. But do 
thou step out and bask in the glow of the sun, 
do thou stretch forth thy limbs in languid and 
truant ease and let its warmth play on the 
white of thy flesh so that even the health of thy 
blood may bubble to the surface. 
* * 
Do thou fix thine eyes on the dome where 
stars are fixed, though they are paled by the 
garish sun and hence dim ; yet rear thy heart 
starward and in the course of the sun see the 
greatness of ways and tracks that are thine, 
My jewel ! Do thou even now burst asunder 
the fetters that rivetest thee even to the plank 
of anxiety and with a bound throw r from thee 
the shackles and walk thy star-ward path as a 
tenant of earth in the way to finding a better 
abode. 

About thee lies the good that cometh from 
My strong right arm. Hold it, that its counte- 
nance may remain with thee forever. Yea, 
217 



MESSAGES AND REVELATIONS 

seek not for a change of thy good for that 
which is better, but hug rather the present 
good to thy heart of heart that its strength may 
impart even strength where thy weakness 
abideth. The load which I have placed upon 
thy shoulder is not to thee a load earth-made, 
'tis but a gathering of rare herbage piped with 
beautiful coloring which is full of healing and 
sweet of taste, but which you all, blinded, do 
see as burdensome. 

If thou but onward marchest, looking not at 
the phantom spies that seek to distract thee in 
thy going and lurk in the clearness of thy light, 
then shalt thou add wings unto them and they 
shall flee even as doth the young chick before 
the hawk's approach. Let thy bold front even 
by its courage chase forever the foes of man, 
stern unbelief and dull distrust, which are 
ever eager to find lodging in the heart where a 
canopy of white trust doth shelter the babe of 
Love that reclineth in playful happiness on a 
rosy couch of hope. Even there would the 
enemy of man steal and take from the garden 
of his soul the flowers that blossom in rare 
loveliness, the beauty that hideth in sweet 
218 



FROM SREE KRISHNA, 

silence, the peace that casteth its halo of calm 
over the spirit even as a wild dove. 
* * 
A SOUL AND ITS BELOVED. 

A soul was all tired unto death because love, 
which once glowed warm and red, had turned 
toward a face fairer and brighter than the one 
which encased it. 

Long it dwelt upon that departure, until the 
time had come when it was all ready to leave 
the earth; but there was the beloved soul, 
which had gone from the right path. 

While contemplating on the possible way of 
calling unto itself the beloved soul that had 
gone astray in its blindness, Death stood be- 
fore it and called it to make ready for a long 
journey beyond the boundaries which it now 
knew. 

Glad and willing the soul responded; but, 
casting its eyes behind for one moment, it be- 
held its beloved mate, walking in the mire, in 
its search after the will-o'-the-wisp for which 
it had left its home, and the soul was grieved 
sorely unto death. One step backward it made ; 

219 



MESSAGES AND REVELATIONS 

but Death detained it, saying: "This way, 
sweet soul, you go wrong 1 . See that golden 
path? There await you those who want you 
to be with them in parts beautiful and wonder- 
ful beyond that which you remember/' 

"Oh!" spake the soul, "What of her— my 
beloved? Where goes she?" 

"Alone the path she now treads she has 
chosen, and it is not in your power to draw 
her back one inch from that chosen path!" 

"But, O Death!" quoth the soul, "the way 
before her is black and full of reptiles and evil 
creeping things, and she was so tender and 
beautiful. May I not change places with her. 
and will you not take her and leave me?" 

"It is not so written," quoth Death. "Each 
soul chooses its own path and she has chosen 
hers." 

"When, O Death! will she come to where 
you lead me?" 

"It is written, not for many aeons." 

"How can I draw her to me to turn her 
from her dark way to myself?" 

"It is written that one soul may draw 
another after it, if for many births it is will- 

220 



FROM SREE KRISHNA. 

ing to wait at the door of death for all souls 
to pass. See, here it is where these wailing, 
fainting, quivering ones suffer agonies, greater 
than you have ever dreamed of in the many 
walks of your earthly or space life." 

A moment the soul gazed on the suffering 
ones ; and as it looked it grew cold and pinched, 
as if another death had come upon it. "I will 
wait," it said. "Joy it will be to me to w r ait 
for aeons until she whom I love will pass this 
way !" 

"Oh !" cried Death, "it was said among the 
unseen ones who throng space that you were 
thus. See, the pang of pain which you in 
agony bore has forced your beloved to turn and 
gaze towards you. She leaves her path of mud 
and darkness and hurries after you. Come on, 
both of you, and walk the path of gold that is 
thronged with such as you, the saviour and the 
saved. Surely in one moment of such love 
you have unfettered the bonds which bound 
yourself and your beloved to all that was of 
earth." 

And they passed into the way that led to 
the higher place. 

221 



MESSAGES AND REVELATIONS ■ 

THE FAIR ONE AND HER SOUL. 
The world had grown gray, the golden 
stars had fled from the skies, and a silence deep 
yawned at the feet of one who, all hungry for 
that which she knew not and starved for that 
which she could not name, moaned : "O Soul ! 
why am I tortured thus ? Why dost thou lead 
me into paths I cannot walk, and drag me into 
depths that I fear, and scale with me heights 
whose atmosphere so rare and high is, that 
faint I grow and ill unto perishing therein. 
What is the quest of thine ? This struggle and 
this reaching after that which I cannot see or 
feel? Weak is my flesh, though thou, dear Soul, 
art strong. It is ever easier for me to fall than 
to rise. I struggle to keep on with thee, but 
ever and anon thou mountest to planes where 
my tired and clumsy feet cannot follow thee. 
Ofttimes have I called unto thee and implored 
thee to cease the quest, to rest awhile, to sleep. 
Thou hast heard my moan now and again and 
I ran laughing into the garden that awaited 
me. But when I stood among the blood-red 
roses and white-cupped lilies and sought to 
pluck the pretty blossoms, ever in the heart a 
Z22 



FROM SREE KRISHNA. 

worm did lurk. So farther I ran to where the 
fruits hung high! But when on tip-toe I stood 
to reach the luscious ripe ones that beckoned 
me, lo ! again the over softness of decay did 
break upon my gaze, and I wanted them not. 
Then I made to climb some steep hill whereon 
the clouds did seem to rest, and as I ascended, 
the clouds did fade farther from me, and I 
stood with only the cold gray mist about me, 
chilled and frightened, like a child lost from 
its mother's side. 

"And so it was, O Soul, the pleasures which 
the earth placed at my feet palled upon me and 
dragged me down nigh unto the grave. Then 
I nestled to thee, my beloved Soul, and called 
thee to save and direct me, and pleaded to thee 
to save me from this fleshly self that keeps 
me earth-bound. Then thou wouldst take my 
hand and with me soar to mountain-heights, 
and we with outstretched wing's would view 
the rosy glow that the departing sun did cast 
about us as it waved its grand adieu to the 
world we knew. Thus we stood, I trembling 
with gladness, thou thrilling with joy, but, O 
Soul, my poor fleshly self could not long abide 

223 



MESSAGES AND REVELATIONS 

such ecstasy nor drink the rarefied wine which 
the Heavens vouchsafed us, and crying I clung 
to thee and dragged thee down, down, until 
both again stood at the bottom of the heights 
where lately we had spied the door that leads 
to broader worlds. Thou, my beloved, hadst 
folded thy widespread wings, and thy feet 
were planted in the dank grasses whose roots 
were deep in mire. O tell me, thou whose 
awakening is so beautiful and whose stature 
is full of grace, tell me, O Soul, why, though 
coupled together, are we yet divided;, why, 
though one, are we yet two?" 

The Soul made answer meet : "O companion 
of my earthly Self's encasement of soft flesh, 
I love thee even as thou lovest me, and I do 
draw thee upward, even as thou dost drag me 
down. Dost thou not know that from earth 
thou hast come, hence to earth must go again ; 
that thy natural tendencies are downward even 
unto the earth from which thou didst spring? 
Yet dost thou love that in me which soars even 
upward to the home from whence I came. A 
ray of eternal light am I, a glow of the warm 
heart of Love, a spark of the central flame;, 
224 



! 



FROM SREE KRISHNA. 

hence must I ever strive to reach that perfect 
sphere from whence I came, more beautiful 
and entrancing than thou canst know, nor 
can I anchored be until once again that safe 
haven I reach wherefrom I lately came. Yet, 
list! sweet partner of my earthly pilgrimage, 
dost know why thou lovest me, even though 
hither and thither I draw thee ? Tis that I am 
born of Love, and none can resist Love; and 
the great tender earth, thy mother, is nourished 
by the great Love which is the creator of thee 
and me. O fair and sweet companion, my 
earthly armour that I love, thou and I together 
may reach beyond where we stand reluctantly 
and defiantly! Gaze on me, thy soul, who 
giveth radiance to thee and beauty to thine eye, 
and dost attend all that is lovable unto thee ! 
Gaze at me, and even that which is earthly will 
partake of me and become more of heaven 
than of earth! 

"And so we will wander in joy through life ; 
and who knows but that even the flowers 
may grow sweeter for our having dwelt here? 
If we but look upward, thou following me, 
and I, though loving thee much, yet yielding 
225 



MESSAGES AND REVELATIONS 

not to thy sweet persuasive pleadings and 
downward looking, who knows but we may 
heal those who, even like thee, do cry out 
against the non-adjustment of the body and 
the soul, who, even like thee, have known soul- 
hunger and soul-starvation, which disease 
driveth out of the body all its softness and 
smoothness, and even casteth a shadow on the 
soul which should never he shadowed, lest it 
loseth the sight of the home where light alone 
doth dwell and love alone doth reign." 

The voice ceased. A great tenderness, an un- 
bounded beauty shone on the face of the 
fleshly one, and turning from the deep silence 
that rolled at her feet, the woman gave a glad 
look at the stars, which once again adorned her 
sky and flitted away with a ringing laugh. 

The Soul echoed her joy, and the world 
looked on amazed — for naught is there as rare 
in life as a happy, joyous woman. 



226 



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